Interesting. Entirely agreed about The Truman Show, and your comparison to the Trump business is apt.

Regarding Trump, if they'd left him alone after the 6th January 2021, no attempt at prosecution (despite what is clearly treason), but just let him disappear into obscurity, refusing him the oxygen of publicity in the media etc, he wouldn't have stood the same chance he now stands of winning the next US election. With every indictment, his supporters seem to double down. Every appearance in the media gives him power, even as a mug shot. That's terrifying. I'm left here scratching my head in the UK, wondering if a vast chunk of Americans have collectively lost their minds.