Chris Hayes

politics that had the least attention money matters the most right so in a state rep race yes right money really matters state rep race partly because no one's paying attention to who the state rep is local media has been got in can buy their attention money can buy their opinion so you're like you could put out glossy mailers you could there's a lot you can do that the further up you go from that to senate to president the more attention there is already the less the money counts and you saw this with the harris campaign

They raised a ton of money and they spent it the way that most campaigns spend it, which is on trying to get people's attention, whether that's through advertising or door knocking. Right. But largely attention and then persuasion. Right. I'm running for president. Here's what I want to do. Here's why you should vote for me.

They raised a ton of money and they spent it the way that most campaigns spend it, which is on trying to get people's attention, whether that's through advertising or door knocking. Right. But largely attention and then persuasion. Right. I'm running for president. Here's what I want to do. Here's why you should vote for me.

Now you can do that at billions of dollars worth and everything is just like drops of rain in a river. Right. Because there is so much competition for attention. And so what they figured out, I think, was that they being Harris or they being Trump, they being Trump and I think Musk, is that what matters is the total attentional atmosphere.

Now you can do that at billions of dollars worth and everything is just like drops of rain in a river. Right. Because there is so much competition for attention. And so what they figured out, I think, was that they being Harris or they being Trump, they being Trump and I think Musk, is that what matters is the total attentional atmosphere.

That in some ways it's kind of a sucker's game to try to like pop in and be like, I got an ad. Hey, hey, do you like tax cuts? You're like, what do you like? Like all that's just going to whiz past people. that the sort of attentional atmosphere, that's where the fight is. And that's what Musk's Twitter purchase ended up being an enormous, almost like Archimedean lever on the electorate.

That in some ways it's kind of a sucker's game to try to like pop in and be like, I got an ad. Hey, hey, do you like tax cuts? You're like, what do you like? Like all that's just going to whiz past people. that the sort of attentional atmosphere, that's where the fight is. And that's what Musk's Twitter purchase ended up being an enormous, almost like Archimedean lever on the electorate.

I think this is the key transformational insight of Donald Trump to politics. Generally in politics, you want to get people's attention for the project of persuading them. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears, Mark Anthony says, before he proceeds to attempt to persuade them, right?

I think this is the key transformational insight of Donald Trump to politics. Generally in politics, you want to get people's attention for the project of persuading them. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears, Mark Anthony says, before he proceeds to attempt to persuade them, right?

What Trump figured out is that in the attention age, in this sort of war of all against all, that actually just getting attention matters more than whatever comes after it. And one way reliably to get people's attention is negative attention.

What Trump figured out is that in the attention age, in this sort of war of all against all, that actually just getting attention matters more than whatever comes after it. And one way reliably to get people's attention is negative attention.

Like, if you insult people, act outrageously, I mean, this is literally, there was a commercial model for this, which is shock jocks of the 1980s and 90s that we grew up with, right? Like, they were in a competitive attentional marketplace in local places. Shock jocks said outrageous things. They weren't trying to get someone to vote for them.

Like, if you insult people, act outrageously, I mean, this is literally, there was a commercial model for this, which is shock jocks of the 1980s and 90s that we grew up with, right? Like, they were in a competitive attentional marketplace in local places. Shock jocks said outrageous things. They weren't trying to get someone to vote for them.

They just wanted you to know that they were running the morning zoo.

They just wanted you to know that they were running the morning zoo.

I think that's probably true. And I also think that the general shock jock model has now become a successful model in politics.

I think that's probably true. And I also think that the general shock jock model has now become a successful model in politics.

So I agree with that. And I want to sort of take those in two parts because I think the politics is actually worth taking a second with. Mark Robinson ran for governor of North Carolina. He was already elected statewide as a lieutenant governor. Said lots of outrageous things all the time.

So I agree with that. And I want to sort of take those in two parts because I think the politics is actually worth taking a second with. Mark Robinson ran for governor of North Carolina. He was already elected statewide as a lieutenant governor. Said lots of outrageous things all the time.

He was discovered to be, almost certainly, I think he denies it, but it seems to me pretty plausible, a commenter on the Nude Africa site where he said all sorts of wildly offensive things, including, I am a black Nazi. Robinson lost that race in North Carolina, a state Trump carried. It's probably like a plus one or two Republican state at national level. It didn't work for him.