It is possible to look at radical social movements from the perspective of social performance theory; though, being wedded to nonsymbolic and realist methods, few contemporary social scientists would agree. Despite their immensely practical goals, the success of both Chinese Communists and American civil rights protesters depended on achieving performative power, all in the service of dramatically connecting with their audiences. The same can be said for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Contemporary elections are less about rational policies or even just desserts than they are melodramatic performances about who wears the white and who the black hat. Politics is about performing good versus evil in the dangerously shifting currents that create contemporary social scenes. Economics and poll numbers had Obama an underdog in 2012. How were his performances so felicitous as to prove them a lie?