YA GOT BEAT
There’s a data point for sports teams that begins with a question after a loss.
Did we lose or get beat?
Donald Trump won the election Tuesday.
He won because voters believed Trump defined America’s future with more clarity than his opponent, Kamala Harris. And not just 10,000 frat bros in Wisconsin or Alabama thought this. All Americans, of all ethnicities, age groups and economic backgrounds chose Trump. The results are as complete a victory a candidate can have, the political equivalent to football’s 1985 Chicago Bears.
There’s been much analysis this week. Many tears shed by grownups acting like children over one presidential election. That’s partly why the Dems lost. Not enough adults in the room. And they nominated a candidate who simply wasn’t up for the job.
Kamala Harris was like the 6-2 post player called up to varsity as a freshman for the playoffs. On paper, the idea seems tactically sound — she’s a big body, takes up space in the paint, will free up our shooters for open looks. Then two quarters into the regional final, against actual defenders, a stark realization sets in: she can’t catch the ball and would lose to a starfish in a footrace. You get beat. It’s not the player’s fault but the coaches for thinking they could pull it off. Coaches can be stubborn that way, about their system elevating the play of otherwise ordinary athletes. She’ll be better because of our brilliance. Watch the tape, bro.
That’s the Dems this cycle; they didn’t watch enough tape on Harris (there’s plenty out there) and thought their system could push any candidate past the finish line. That’s as much blind arrogance as stubbornness.
Trump won in a landslide with an unconventional media strategy — podcasts and Barstool. He didn’t do one sit-down network interview. No “60 Minutes” with Scott Pelley, no “Meet the Press” or other Sunday shows. Other than calling into a few Fox News programs, he largely ignored heritage media brands. Instead, he went on Joe Rogan and posed for pictures at UFC matches. As The Free Press wrote:
None of these podcasts or streams are inherently political, and neither is the UFC. They are not right-wing media, in any traditional sense of the word. They are, though, the young male mainstream, representing a large but silent minority—one ignored by politicians at best and demonized at worst.
What they all have in common though is that they involve men talking, mostly to other men, off the cuff. The audience doesn’t view them as journalists or thought leaders, but rather as para-social friends. They have natural, long-winded conversations that could go anywhere. It’s like hanging out—in a way.
It shouldn’t be all that surprising Gen Z’s and Alphas — many voting for the first time — showed up and showed out for Trump.
(Anecdotally, players on my 8th grade junior football team are J.D. Vance fans, saying he is “really cool.” The fact 13-14 boys know the name and background of the VP candidate for president is striking. How did they learn about Vance? Probably on Twitch or YouTube shows, where Vance was a frequent guest.)
I don’t know Trump’s media strategy for his second administration. If I were advising, I’d ignore the legacy brands to start. If they want to come to him, so be it. But I’d continue to treat them as the oppositional party they are until they show some acceptance of the results and appropriate analysis.
I wouldn’t hold expectations all that high.
The incuriosity about Trump’s rise in 2016 and comeback infects not just media brands but the Never Trumper voters and non-voters. There’s a moral superiority these folks have about their position where any self-reflection would require an admission of flawed judgment.
Harris will become the night manager at an Oakland McDonald’s before that happens.
So buckle up. It’s going to be an interesting time for our country.
Tuesday’s results made clear what Americans want. And it’s Trump.
THE SIX
*Here’s the aforementioned article from The Free Press on Trump’s media appearances. It’s written by a 28-year-old and gives deeper context on why Trump won the male vote: “It’s not just that the Trump campaign bothered to show up on male-centric platforms, it’s that they respected the mediums and participated in them fully.”
*Much hand-wringing over what went wrong for the Dems Tuesday. As we’re not going to get reflective analysis from the comm shops, there are left-leaning newsletters filling the void. This is a good piece from Slow Boring on the Dems bad night and why a little-heard of piece of legislation may have contributed to the GOP flipping the Senate and likely, the House.
*I can’t resist sharing a piece from the anti-Trump media establishment. There are media companies built on Never Trumpism and Tuesday’s results are a shot in the arm for their models. The Bulwark is one of those outlets and in their morning piece to subscribers titled “No Honeymoon for Trumpism” writes: “Newly elected presidents who’ve won convincing victories have momentum. But that momentum can also be stalled, blunted, blocked, limited, checked. Even reversed…this requires organized opposition.” Man the torpedoes. For these outlets, the fight is just beginning.
*An election-heavy Six but one more piece of analysis. This as it relates to the prediction market. Never before have we seen so much gambling-infused content around an election. It makes sense as gambling is now legal in most states and embraced by corporate media who love cashing those fat advertising checks. Jack Raines, who publishes the Young Money newsletter, writes on the abundance of information that informed the gambling markets and our own siloed point of view.
*Let’s get our minds off politics for a moment with a pop culture diversion...The Beatles. John Lennon once said that the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" was "psychoanalysis set to music.” The urban legend of the song is how Lennon — and noted weed lover Paul McCartney — wrote the trippy and hazy song about being high. The lyrics speak to a boy's hiding place in a wild garden (based on a park where young Lennon liked to lurk) and his uncertainty about what was real and what was not. The author of this piece via Far Out argues the song “reflects the chaos of Lennon's own childhood and his later attempts to make sense of it through music.” Most musicians probably express their childhood experiences through songs. That’s the gift artists give to the world. A lot of them, historically, are on mind-altering substances while they do so. Thank God for all of the great art that has produced.
*Finally, speaking of mind-altering... it’s been quite the week for the internet. One of the more enjoyable time sucks has been the clips of Trump Meltdowns. Sky News puts together this compilation with a cheeky-humorous tone. I don’t know if mental health is the biggest problem in our country post-election but rather, chronic narcissism.
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