How A 1982 Storyline In Dallas Predicted The Rise of Trump

It’s late 1982. Shoulder pads have arrived and Dallas is well and truly becoming an 80s TV icon

I’ve been taking a sabbatical over the last few months and one of my guilty pleasures has been watching Dallas. Yes, the TV show from the 70s and 80s with the famous ‘who shot JR’ storyline. And yes, I have all 14 seasons on DVD.

In Season 6, Jock Ewing has just been declared dead and JR and Bobby are slugging it out to win control of Ewing Oil. One of JR’s strategies is to sell
cut-rate gas, though for many episodes his aim is unclear.

We see him bribe, and then destroy, a state official in order to increase the amount of oil he is allowed to pump. He produces more than the market can bear, which baffles his competitors. Eventually he launches JR Ewing Gas stations, selling petrol for 89 cents a gallon when the market rate was around $1.21.

He claims in a fanfare of media that he is proud to help the little man, the every-day American who is struggling to make ends meet in a difficult economy. Privately he quips about robbing from the poor to help the rich. The only person he is ever interested in helping is himself.