Trying to understand the American election

By Sherwin Arnott Politics
Sherwin writes at his desk

I see a lot of people talking like they know what happened yesterday. I’m skeptical. A lot of it seems like bunkum to me. I certainly don’t know what happened. Not really. And I don’t know what will happen either. Well, here’s a list of articles and random thoughts that I think are interesting and relevant. These aren’t in any particular order. Let me know if there are other things I should read.

  1. Some kinds of media helped Donald Trump. Some kinds of journalism helped Donald Trump. Jeff Jarvis reviews some failures of journalism in this election.
  2. White and wealthy voters supported Trump.
  3. It is hard to put things in context/perspective.
  4. Anil Dash advises to avoid thinkpieces and pundits that know very little and start organizing instead.
  5. I’m worried about Muslims, Jews, Black and Hispanic folks, LGTBQ folks and other marginalized folks. I worry that hate groups will take this election as additional social licence.
  6. President Obama has had a strong approval rating as president.
  7. Cable news, am radio and local media environments seem relevant. There are tens of thousands of “local media environments” at play.
  8. Democrats, Trump, and the Ongoing, Dangerous Refusal to Learn the Lesson of Brexit
  9. There are people who are downplaying the relevance of systemic racism and sexism in this election.
  10. Trump lost the popular vote.
  11. My “friend” voted for Trump. Because media is powerful.
  12. The CIA’s unaccountable and mostly secret drone strike program has grown dramatically under Bush and Obama and now it (for example) is run by Trump.
  13. False balance and entertainment dollars contributed to the Trump campaign: here is some interesting research on the media in this election.
  14. Five Thirty Eight folks have a chat about what happened. “Bringing facts to a culture war is like brining a knife to a gun fight.”
  15. The forces that drove this election’s media failure are likely to get worse: Neiman Lab
  16. Canadian politics is and will be effected by what is happening in the US. So we have to pay attention and resist it.
  17. Jay Smooth tells us the election was the result of White Supremacy
  18. Interesting thoughts here on Silicon Valley. Shervin Pishevar: “There were too many people in the tech industry who were complacent. They waited and waited and waited to get engaged in this election. And now we have this nightmare.”
  19. And also by Bloomberg News: Facebook and Twitter Contend With Their Role in Trump’s Victory
  20. NPR Code Switch: