In Far Middle episode 182, Nick presents an unconventional analysis of the 2024 presidential election.
Before assessing the lessons from the 2024 election, Nick begins with a fitting sports dedication. That tribute goes to President Gerald Ford as Nick highlights not only Ford’s athletic career at the University of Michigan (helping lead the Wolverines to two national championships), but also Ford’s service in the Navy and the South Pacific during World War II.
“A single word sums up everything we’ve been subjected to, that we’ve observed, that we thought, and that we’ve experienced in the 2024 presidential race. And that single word that captures it all, from message to theme, exposed,” says Nick as he proceeds to decode the takeaways from this year’s presidential race.
Nick argues that the 2024 election exposed various truths, fictions, strengths, and weaknesses of the candidates and the political landscape. And ultimately the election was a choice between Trump and anti-Trump, or between viewing the country as on the right track versus the wrong track.
Assessing Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Nick details the nominees’ strengths and weaknesses and how they were exposed throughout the campaign.
In addition to the candidates, Nick comments on a “slew of false fictions” that were also exposed. Those include the notion that Trump’s support was limited to white Americans, the influence (or lack thereof) of Hollywood celebrities, the idea that early mail-in voting favors Democrats, and the reliability of mainstream media and pollsters.
“The election exposed that the party with the most diverse coalition this time around was the Republicans, not the Democrats, which is fascinating. And I think it’ll be fascinating to see how that evolves over time,” says Nick. The election revealed new voter demographics, suggesting that the electorate is now more divided along economic lines (paycheck-to-paycheck voters vs. affluent elite voters) rather than traditional racial or gender lines.
Nick closes by connecting back to one of the episode’s earlier mentioned celebrities, Robert De Niro, for a brief discussion of the classic film Raging Bull, as the episode’s November 13 release date coincides with Raging Bull’s 1980 premiere in New York City.