Eight years ago, the mood on the campaign trail was so toxic that US First Lady Michelle Obama told voters “when they go low, we go high.” In 2024, with a campaign that’s too close to call, it feels even darker. To borrow the title of a famous book about the 1972 election, there is plenty of fear and loathing on the campaign trail in the homestretch of a tight US presidential race marred by character assassinations and racist tropes.
We ask what is fuelling the burning of ballot boxes and threats against poll workers.
It’s certainly about opposing interests and values, but in a digital age on steroids, is it also about the way that frenzied punchlines are marketed and pushed to rival communities and tribes on our smartphones?
On that score, we ask why so many of the masters of today’s mass media are all too happy to allow hate to spread on their platforms and buy into Donald Trump‘s infamous 2017 line, after a far-right rally turned deadly, that there are “very fine people on both sides”.
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip.
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