There are now only two names that can stop the Trump Train. After a Democratic primary debate in which outside saviour Michael Bloomberg showed Americans that you can’t manufacture charisma, it’s time for some genuine star power. Fight celebrity with celebrity.

Michelle Obama, left, and Oprah Winfrey with the then Democratic presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, in 2007. Credit:AP

Whether the political pundits like it or not, this is now all about entertainment. Where once it was bread and circuses it is now reality television. Or the theatre of the absurd.

Just look at the recent State of the Union Address, or “show” as it was more aptly dubbed. A carefully contrived reality program with drama and pathos, it was hailed by even Trump detractors as his best “performance” so far.

This is the new political normal, but none of the current Democratic contenders, nor Bloomberg, seem to get it.