It is no secret that the American mass media is just as divided among party lines as the population itself. In January 2020, the Pew Research Center published a study highlighting just how strong the relationship between partisan voters and their media preferences are. Unsurprisingly, people who identified as left leaning tended to trust left wing media and distrust right wing media, and people who identified as right leaning tended to trust right wing media and distrust left wing media (right wingers were more distrustful in general).       For candidates seeking victory in their primary election, this relationship is no problem. However, to win the Presidential Election, you must be able to reach voters from across the party lines. To this end, candidates will occasionally appear on the media preferred by the other party in order to engage that demographic of voter on a platform which they are both more likely to watch and more likely to t...

So, we find ourselves standing in the town square as the smoke settles from last night's debate. In case you missed it, the Republicans had their first round of debate last night, and the fireworks flew even in the absence of lead-candidate and known loudmouth Donald Trump. The field, which consisted of Ron Desantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy. Some highlights of the evening included an exchange between Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy involving foreign policy directives, a moment in which all candidates but Chris Christie vowed to support Trump should he become the eventual nominee, and a fiery tirade from Vivek Ramaswamy on climate change. Despite Trump's physical absence, his name was present consistently throughout the night, particularly from Mike Pence. An article in USA Today which I will link below counted 19 mentions of Trump, 6 of which came from Pence. Some may recall Trump fundamentally lying to...

 The 2024 election will see the GOP, divided between Trump, Desantis, and the pleasant young surprise Vivek Ramaswamy, trying to dethrone the Democrats, who are seemingly united under incumbent President Joe Biden. The Biden administration, which can be best thought of as a response to the prior Trump Administration, has had a turbulent four-year run. Between the war in Ukraine, the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, the train derailment in East Palestine, and the still recovering economy, the Biden administration has nearly matched the level of turbulence generated by Donald Trump and his recent indictments regarding claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. Furthermore, Trump's status as the no-brainer GOP nominee has been challenged by Ron Desantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, meaning that both sides of the American political spectrum are in vulnerable positions. So, what is the secret mechanism by which either side can achieve victory? Enter mass media. In the US, whether you like it or...