This is only the beginning: Nate Silver explains how Donald Trump has “hacked the system” and create

[applegrove]

This is only the beginning: Nate Silver explains how Donald Trump has “hacked the system” and created a roadmap for future political con men

by Sean Illing at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2016/03/31/this_is_only_the_beginning_nate_silver_explains_how_donald_trump_has_hacked_the_system_and_created_a_roadmap_for_future_political_con_men/

"SNIP..............



On Wednesday, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com dove a little deeper into the Trump coverage, trying to understand how this happened. “Trump has been able to disrupt the news pretty much any time he wants,” Silver wrote, “whether by being newsworthy, offensive, salacious or entertaining. The media has almost always played along.”

Of course, the press has played along – it can’t do otherwise. A corporatized media has turned citizens into consumers, and politicians into products. Trump understands this and he acts accordingly – it’s really quite simple. His whole career has been about brand management, which is now all the training a national politician needs.

Trump’s media-centric strategy has been wildly successful. He’s received what amounts to $1.9 billion in TV coverage despite having spent only $10 million on paid advertising. “By contrast,” Silver notes, “Trump’s Republican rivals combined have received slightly less than $1.2 billion worth of television coverage, meaning that Trump has been the subject of the clear majority (62 percent) of candidate-focused TV coverage.”

Silver’s broader conclusion is that Trump has “hacked the system,” which is to say he’s exploited a broken process with a perverse incentive structure. He writes:

“Put another way, Trump has hacked the system and exposed the weaknesses in American political institutions. He’s uncovered profound flaws in the Republican Party. He’s demonstrated that third-rail issues like racism and nationalism can still be a potent political force. He’s exploited the media’s goodwill and taken advantage of the lack of trust the American public has in journalism. Trump may go away – he’s not assured of winning the GOP nomination, and he’ll be an underdog in November if he does – but the problems he’s exposed were years in the making, and they’ll take years to sort out.”



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[libodem]

1. There is a whole semester

Of Political Science rolled up in that article.

We are consumers, not citizens and politicians are products. It comes down to advertising and marketing.

Good Goddess, America, is in the dumper.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Hopefully there is a lesson learned .

Yes,there will be others that will use this blueprint,hopefully people will recognize it early on.

[DJ13]

4. We are consumers, not citizens and politicians are products.

Obama Wins Ad Age’s ‘Marketer Of The Year’

by Vito Rispo


Every year hundreds of the biggest marketers, agency heads, and all manner of people involved in advertising get together at the Association of National Advertisers’ annual conference. And every year, they vote on the best advertiser of that particular year. This year Barack Obama won with a pretty substantial 36% of the vote, beating out the two runners-up Apple and Zappos.com. Nike, Coors and Sen. John McCain filled out the bottom of the vote.

“I honestly look at [Obama's] campaign and I look at it as something that we can all learn from as marketers,” said Angus Macaulay, VP-Rodale marketing solutions “To see what he’s done, to be able to create a social network and do it in a way where it’s created the tools to let people get engaged very easily. It’s very easy for people to participate.”

Linda Clarizio, president of AOL’s Platform A, said of Barack Obama, “I think he did a great job of going from a relative unknown to a household name to being a candidate for president.”

But some people weren’t particularly happy about getting politics involved in the voting. Mark Kaline, recently appointed global media director of Kimberly-Clark Corp., said. “Quite frankly, because political advertising kind of goes against a lot of what ANA stands for, I don’t think it belongs in the voting. … A lot of political advertising is false and misleading, and marketers at this conference don’t expect to see that kind of stuff.”

Here are the results:
Obama 36.1%
Apple 27.3%
Zappos 14.1%
Nike 9.4%
Coors 8.7%
McCain 4.5%

http://www.adsavvy.org/obama-wins-ad-ages-marketer-of-the-year/

[abelenkpe]

6. Yep.

[Flyingbird5066]

13. Agreed

[MisterFred]

15. A few decades ago

There was a horrible trend, still going strong, brought about by the idea of treating government by a business.

Employees of government agencies were encouraged to start referring to members of the public as "customers" not "citizens" or "voters" or just "people." I consider it immensely damaging to our very understanding of how government works, and as far as I can tell, the practice is near universal now.

[Rex]

2. Richard Nixon was a political con man...are these GOPukes EVER going to catch up with reality?

It's like they are still trying to shove that fucking tape into the Betamax after everyone told them it wouldn't work for hours! It's not going to work! Everyone and their dog knows the GOP is the party of greedy assholes, FULL of con men and women.

[highoverheadspace]

5. They lost me at "the media's goodwill".

[libodem]

7. Thanks Applegrove

This WAS a good read.

[bemildred]

8. Yep, the manipulators manipulated.

Even out-gamed the Kochs with all their money.

[Dr. Xavier]

9. I still don't understand why WE let THEM get

away with it? I know that the people on DU and other progressive/ liberal blogs are talking about it... but why can't we get others to see the reality of the destruction being caused? Just don't get it...

[seanjoycek476]

10. Trump is a danger to all of us

He's a fascistic lunatic with evil intentions. He must be defeated this year.

[louis-t]

11. "brand manager"

Perfect. President Tiny Fingers, Brand Manager. Well, we're fucked now.

[joeybee12]

12. I read this the other day...everyone should read this...

Nate has always been spot on about the pathetic state of the msm and how easily they are manipulated...and always have been, even Sherlock Holmes knew this.

[47of74]

14. Or as I call them, the Shitstream Media.

[FairWinds]

16. Silver should stick to numbers . .

If you want a muich better analysis of the media, go to

Norman Soloman and Robert McChesney.