As I sat in the exam room at my doctor's office on Thursday afternoon, I looked over at the magazines that were available and the cover of an issue of TIME magazine there caught my eye. It read, "How Trump Won: Now he just needs the votes". At first I was simply interested in seeing what the article might be about, but as I began reading I quickly became intrigued with the author's message.
Early on in the article, the word disintermediation is used to explain why Trump has been so successful in the polls. The basic concept of disintermediation is cutting out the middleman. For example, someone publishing an ebook by themselves rather than going through a publishing company. The article explores the disintermediation of the political race for the upcoming presidential election this November. The middleman in this scenario is the mainstream media (or "lamestream" media as suggested in the article).
Social media has connected the world in such a way that Trump and his fans can, in effect, communicate directly. Although the media has been predicting for months that Trump's campaign is going to lose steam at some point, that does not seem to be the case. In my opinion, the mainstream media is wasting their breath. I would be willing to bet that Trump has more Twitter followers and Facebook friends than the number of people who watch the news and hear what the "lamestream" media has to say.
I acknowledge that the article spent very little time discussing the view of people who think Trump is a joke as a candidate for president. The article is pretty one-sided in discussing why Trump is having success in the race and how he may have a good shot at becoming the Republican nominee. One point the article brought up is how Trump is known for saying just about whatever he wants. In a world that seems to have become dominated by "political correctness" and fear of voicing an opinion to the contrary, what would it be like to have someone as President that is so well-known for being politically incorrect? Maybe Trump has what it takes to shake things up and actually make a big difference. Only time will tell.
UPDATE (11/10/16): I guess the question mark in the title of this post is now obsolete...
Jason, super interesting point about disintermediation! It makes total sense how this is working in Trump's favor and seems to be a potential advantage to the modern-use of social media. I'm curious to find out how much disintermediation has helped in other areas of politics or parts of our culture. It makes me think that perhaps people are growing less concerned about what the professional media is saying and trusting direct sources like people's social media accounts more.
ReplyDeleteIt also seems that people care less about professionalism in general... I can't help but think of trump as a spoiled child when I watch his interviews or debates yet he is still highly ranked in the poles. Also, what happened to his complexion? His skin tone and hair are the same color. Kind of an interesting(for lack of a better word) look.
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