Table of Contents
Perhaps even as a gift to Musk, Trump has indeed returned to X in recent weeks, taking advantage of the biggest online megaphone he’s ever had. On Tuesday night, Trump posted a link to his campaign Page asking for volunteers. As of Wednesday afternoon, it’s pinned to the top of your account. This could be the sign of a desperate candidate, but it could still be very effective.
If the polls are correct, this election will be incredibly close. Trump’s base is likely to show up as they did in 2016 and 2020. The challenge is convincing non-voters to turn out and boost the former president’s numbers. Many of these unlikely voters are young men; men People between 18 and 24 years old vote in much smaller numbers than previous generations. To find and persuade them, Trump has worked with tough guy podcasters and friends and Influencers whose audiences tend to be the exact people. the campaign tries to achieve. Instead of a volunteer with a clipboard getting a few dozen or even a hundred people to register in a day, these guys reach precisely the millions of voters the campaign needs.
In 2008, Barack Obama’s campaign transformed the way elections are held and won with its massive field operation across the country. At the time, traditional methods like telephone banking were revolutionary. Now no one answers their phones. If you’ve been reading this newsletter, you know that the Kamala Harris campaign has done very similar online work to what we’re seeing from the Trump team and the Obama campaign in 2008. Actually, the main difference is that they’ve also invested in relational organizing and are betting on the fact that a combination of random volunteers talking to strangers, influencers posting to millions, and friends and family reaching out with talking points will win. November. Basically, Harris is casting a wide net while Trump pulls out all the stops.
Instead of hanging out on college campuses and grocery stores, it appears the Trump campaign is banking on the Internet to help them reach low-propensity voters. With millions of followers and that sweet algorithmic luck, brothers Musk and Paul could well be Trump’s ace.
The chat room
Yesterday, a US appeals court ruled that Americans you can bet on congressional elections. This was a case filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission against betting platform Kalshi. The company was forced to suspend its election bets last month, but was given the green light to run them again starting Tuesday. No US state explicitly allows election betting, but some already prohibit it.
What, for you, is the over-under in electoral betting? Do you think it’s a good idea? Maybe not? Are you betting on races yourself? Tell me everything! Send your thoughts to mail@wired.com.
Wired readings
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What else are we reading?
🔗 JD Vance avoids January 6 questions by moving on to Facebook ‘censorship’: CBS debate moderators asked JD Vance who won the 2020 presidential election. His answer? He didn’t really give any and just complained about the content moderation. (The edge)
🔗 Within the struggle for liberation The apprentice: Gabriel Sherman explains why Donald Trump’s film The apprentice It was almost canned. Luckily, it will be released next week so we can all experience Jeremy Strong playing Roy Cohn. Chef’s Kisses Casting. (Vanity Fair)
🔗 Lina Khan goes on tour with the Democrats before the elections: Lina Khan, the regulator billionaires love to hate, is hitting the campaign trail to defend Democrats before the election. (Punchbowl News)
The download
I’m back on WIRED Policy Lab This week’s podcast with our host Leah Feiger and Tim Marchman, our director of science, policy and security. In this episode, we sit down to record immediately after Tuesday’s vice presidential debate to discuss what we saw and, perhaps more importantly, what we didn’t see. You can hear that episode here!
One last thing: Jimmy Carter turned 100 this week, and if you’re not familiar with how the Allman Brothers helped him win the 1976 election, ought. It’s one of my favorite little bits of American election history.
That’s all for today. Thanks again for subscribing. You can contact me by email, instagram, unknownand Signal at makenakelly.32.
