From Jon Perr:
So a former reality TV star won the 2016 presidential election on Tuesday.
While deeply disturbing, that victory by Donald Trump was somehow altogether fitting. After all, as research from Harvard revealed, throughout the 2016 election cycle “policy issues [were] nearly absent in presidential campaign ‘coverage.'” Even during the four weeks surrounding the parties’ nominating conventions, policy stories represented only 8 percent of media coverage surveyed (13 percent for Trump and only a paltry four percent for Hillary Clinton). Instead, scandals, gaffes, unexpected revelations, horse race coverage and other “medialities” represented over two-thirds of the reporting from the 10 media sources studied. Ultimately, the “policy free” 2016 election was a lot like the first season of CBS reality game show Survivor; the surprise winner was Richard Hatch, an off-putting, conniving white guy few viewers liked and even fewer trusted.
Now that Clinton has been voted off the island, the question remains: just what did Trump’s triumphant supporters actually win on Tuesday?