The Comeback of Donald Trump
Did the media miss it again?
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Here comes the much-anticipated (maybe dreaded? Obnoxiously over-covered?) 2024 US presidential election, and no one knows who will emerge as the next President of the United States.
Today’s episode was inspired by a conversation I had last week with a former colleague from The New York Times. She shared her concern that we in the media might have done it again. That just like in 2016, we may have failed to capture why Donald Trump, one of the least popular presidents in US history and an undeniable outlier, could be so close to winning another term in the White House.
So with the election just days away, we’re diving in to unpack that story. Our guests are Mike Pesca, a veteran of NPR and host of The Gist, the longest-running daily news podcast. Mike has covered presidential campaigns and politics for over two decades. While he’s been a sharp critic of Trump, he’s done an excellent job of explaining why so many Americans see a vote for Trump as a vote for their own self-interest. We’re also joined by Emily Jashinsky, a Washington correspondent for Unherd, co-host of the Undercurrents podcast, and someone who reports from within the conservative media ecosystem. She does a fantastic job documenting the rise of the New Right and its split from the fading conservative establishment.
No matter who you are planning on voting for - or even if you aren’t going to vote at all - we’d love to hear from you. You can always reach us at hello@reflector.show
And may we all have a safe and painless election day.
Andy (and Matt).
The media is not a passive observer. In fact it is the single most powerful player in the game of politics. Hence the media did not “miss” anything. Instead it allowed itself to be steered by people who abrogated their morale role in a democracy as the fourth estate - to provide clear, unvarnished truth and guidance to their viewers to help them make the decisions on which the republic stands. Instead they both pandered to the ill-informed desires of the undereducated masses, pushed/created a profitable (for themselves)horse race through rampant false-equivalencies, and now have earned a place in ignominy on par with their previous peers in 1930’s Germany. Pathetic. Spineless. And truly craven.
This is an exceptional episode. A master class in complicating the dominant narratives. Thank you!