You may still be settling down after the most surprising election night in living memory. But… how exactly did we get here? There’s a long list of reasons why the American public looked at a controversial candidate and said, “Yes, this is the person who should be president of the oldest democracy on Earth.”
Trump can be best understood, Wu contends, in the context of reality television. With its constant twists and turns, reality TV served as a template for Trump’s campaign. And in that universe - as Kim Kardashian or Snooki could tell you - all publicity is good publicity.
Wu also cautions us that it’s not just politics and TV competing for your attention. If you’ve ever opened your laptop for a quick peek at your email and found yourself - 45 minutes later - greedily devouring Twitter updates, you know that it’s easy to give away your attention.
