Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters
What if the media appetite for flash, big personalities, and buzzy stories had exactly nothing to do with governing?
It is not a new phenomenon. The media values “great communicators” because they are in the communications business. They zero in on characters who are quotable, controversial, that trigger emotions and therefore drive audiences.
When it comes to presidents, that is the road that led directly from Reagan to Trump, even though it was presidents who may have been drier—from Eisenhower to Biden—may have gotten more done.