“Reality TV is really just based for sensationalism. So, it’s extreme versions and extreme caricatures of personalities,” said American actress Essence Atkins. Her denunciation of the excesses that lead to Reality TV success could, however, be just as easily applied to the 2024 presidential race. Candidates are encouraged to “go big or go home,” and it is rarely the shrinking violet that takes the ultimate prize.
The public’s access to information is, more than ever, filtered by the gatekeepers of Big Box Media and the denizens of Silicon Valley. Disfavored candidates have their platforms throttled or revoked, coverage is either brutally negative or sycophantically in favor of the opposition. Campaigns are framed as battles in an arena of war – sometimes, rightly so. And in the end, the public gets to vote out the least popular contestant until only the big two showdown remains.
With former Vice President Mike Pence set to enter the race officially this week, the Republican field is getting both busier and more chaotic. Each candidate is being subtly encouraged to stand out from the increasing crowd by promising more grander and more unique political positions. For the 45th president, this is his natural territory, but for aspiring hopefuls, he has set the bar for what needs to be on offer.
Donald Trump remains the clear frontrunner for a primary win. According to a RealClearPolitics aggregate, the former president maintains a 30-point lead of his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis, meanwhile, sits roughly 18 points ahead of all the other contenders. This suggests that the final battle for the GOP nomination will come down to these two men, both of whom are riding on a Make America Great Again platform with a sharp focus on winning the much-decried Culture War.
Pence, Nikki Haley, Senator Tm Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, and other candidates are in the unenviable position of trying to swing primary voters their way whilst avoiding the wrath of the legacy media and the oft-applied bel of “extremist.” Polling and betting markets indicate that this is a losing strategy. Haley is presently a 20 to one longshot, but still ahead of Scott with 25/1. Pence comes in behind both on 40/1. Ramaswamy, despite having the most positive coverage from of the bunch from the left-wing media falls dead last at 66/1 – a longshot’s longshot.
It seems you can’t surf to the shoreline without first making some big waves.
The activist media would have Americans believe that it is only the GOP that engages in “extremes.” However, evidence points to the contrary. President Joe Biden is way ahead of his only two declared opponents, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson. The latter appears to be engaged in a self-promotion tour with little or no intent to try and grab the brass ring, whereas the former seems to understand that controversy is the key to coverage.
Biden is the favorite to win the nomination at 2/9 (meaning if you bet a dollar, you would win a mere 22 cents), and in second place is RFK Jr., who is actually ahead of even Vice President Kamala Harris (although she is not running for president if Biden wins, many consider it almost certain that she will at some point assume the presidency), as a ten to one outsider. But that could change.
A number of prominent Democrat supporters – people who would never vote for a GOP candidate – have publicly bemoaned the DNC’s refusal to hold primary debates. In fact, the more Joe Biden is hidden away from his supporters, it seems the more they want him to come out and engage. The problem appears to be that RFK Jr. could steal enough thunder from independents who see Biden as incapable of holding his own.
(Photo by M. Caulfield/WireImage)
Biden has been the beneficiary of positive media coverage from a Fourth Estate that is ready to apply the “extremist” label to any who challenge him – whether that is Trump or DeSantis, or even primary challengers in his own party. But this united front of protection has not been enough to fully gloss over the president’s own extreme positions. Branding conservatives as enemies of democracy, and naming Trump supporters as White Supremacists and extremists, have all been par for the course of the president’s “uniter-in-chief” status. But his actions have gone further even than just his rhetoric.
A powerful report from the Media Research Center discovered that Biden’s DHS has been handing out millions in taxpayer dollars to NGOs that conflate mainstream conservative groups directly with Nazi organizations. Outfits such as Fox News, The Heritage Foundation, and even the RNC, have all been tarred with the same brush as actual Nazi groups by recipients of the government largesse. All under the guise of a counter-terrorism program that began under former President Barack Obama. And, of course, the nation knows full well who Biden considers the greatest terrorist threat in America.
Presidential elections have always been a popularity contest of some description, but as the world embraces the garishness of Reality TV, the public demands in larger quantity its bread and its circuses. It seems that the voters are preparing to get engaged in the greatest reality contest of all time, and the performers are preparing their turns.