this election may have been the new 1960. [View all]
in 1960, part of jfk's narrow victory over nixon was attributed to his televised image, particularly during the debates: bronzed, clean-cut, looking directly into the cameras. meanwhile, nixon was sweaty, with 5 o'clock shadow, and looked at the reporters rather than the camera.
it is said that the radio audience thought nixon won, but the television audience strongly went for jfk.
now, toxic trump is certainly no jfk when it comes to just about anything, but put aside trivial things like policies and competence and focus just on campaigning tactics.
it could be said that this was the first presidential election where social media transformed campaigning, just as television first transformed campaigning in 1960.
arguably, we lost because toxic trump worked social media to his advantage, and we came off like nixon's sweaty upper lip and shifty eyes.
beyond any discussion about candidates and policies and republican cheating, we need to figure out how to work social media to our advantage.
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