How American Politics Got Trumped by the Dark Side of Media

The aftermath of conflating public service and public relations

I was on a road trip through Baltimore when I first heard Trump was running for office in the 2016 election. He came down a golden escalator at Trump Tower, made a speech, then hit the news cycle with racist remarks against Mexicans.

My friends and I thought it was a joke, or a stunt. He couldn’t be serious. Mr. Richy Rich, reality-TV boss, and real estate mogul wanted to be President of the USA? Surely no one would take him seriously.

I figured he’d fade from the news within a couple weeks. But I completely forgot that there’s no such thing as bad press in the world of public relations.

Even as a professional marketing strategist, I was working under the assumption that government stood apart from consumer advertising. Certainly, the image of America needed to project a certain level of decency. I was wrong. As Trump gained momentum, the integrity of politics fell like the twin towers.

I watched from the sidelines, trying to figure out Trump’s game. Why would a guy like this run for president? Here was a man whose public-facing persona was completely self-serving, even greedy— and now he wanted to position himself as a public servant…