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How will the summer of 2024 be remembered in US history?
We are living through history in the making, and it is stressful. On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer asks media journalist Brian Stelter and Vanderbilt historian Nicole Hemmer how future generations will view the current political moment in the United States.
They’ll learn, Stelter says, that “the struggle for a true multiracial democracy was incredibly volatile, was in times even scary." He points out that this tumultuous period is characterized by fierce battles between figures like Donald Trump, who offer simplistic solutions, and figures like Joe Biden, who resist such approaches. They’ll learn that “figures like Donald Trump came forward with easy solutions that actually weren't that easy at all” and that “figures like Joe Biden came forward to try to resist the Trumps of the world."
Nicole Hemmer echoes Stelter's sentiments, describing the current era as a testing ground for multiracial democracy. “This will either be a story of counter-majoritarian institutions stamping out public desires, or it will be a story of reforms that remade those institutions in order to make them reflect the will of the people.” We'll either be a more or less democratic United States after this moment, Hemmer adds, and what happens in the next months and years will decide that.'
Watch full episode: Trump, Biden & the US election: What could be next?
Season 7 of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, launches nationwide on public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don''t miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Trump, Biden & the US election: What could be next?
It’s been a week. In just seven days, former President Trump miraculously survived an assassination attempt, picked J.D. Vance as vice presidential candidate, and delivered the longest acceptance speech in history at the GOP convention in Milwaukee (he also holds the record for the second and third longest acceptance speeches). Oh, and through it all, the Democratic party continued its tailspin into crisis as internal clamor grew for President Biden to step aside. Amazing when the afterthought for the week is whether the sitting president will remain on the ticket for an election just months away. But that's where we are.
On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer reflects on this pivotal week in US politics and welcomes back media journalist and former CNN show host Brian Stelter on the show alongside Vanderbilt political historian Nicole Hemmer. “We're living in a period of escalating political violence and social and political instability,” Hemmer tells Bremmer. “That was true in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and I think that it's true today."
In a wide-ranging conversation that touches on all the major news of the week, Hemmer and Stelter dig into the political divisions that led to this moment of horrific political violence. “The real divides are not between Democrats and Republicans, although those are real,” Stelter adds. “But the biggest divide that we're seeing is between extremists and those who are moderates, the great silent majority."
Both guests also comment on the media's role in this fraught environment, with Hemmer critiquing prediction-focused coverage and Stelter advocating for better representation of casual news consumers and politically fatigued voters. The three also discuss the likelihood of Biden stepping down, an eventuality that Stelter argues is inevitable. “It is clear the Democratic Party elites are not with Biden. And I don't see that tide turning. I don't see how it changes.”
Season 7 of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, launches nationwide on public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don''t miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Trump's close call and the RNC: Brian Stelter and Nicole Hemmer weigh in on a historic week in US politics
Listen: We're watching history happen in real-time. Never before was that fact more apparent than this week, when former President Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt, picked his VP candidate, presided over a united GOP at the Republican Convention, and all while a Democratic Party in disarray continued to clamor for Biden to step aside.
It's amazing that the afterthought for the week is whether the sitting President will remain on the ticket for an election just months away. But that's where we are.
In the latest episode of the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer reflects on this pivotal week in US politics and welcomes back media journalist and former CNN show host Brian Stelter on the show alongside Vanderbilt political historian Nicole Hemmer. “We're living in a period of escalating political violence and social and political instability,” Hemmer tells Bremmer. “That was true in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and I think that it's true today."
In a wide-ranging conversation that touches on all the major news of the week, Hemmer and Stelter dig into the political divisions that led to this moment of horrific political violence. “The real divides are not between Democrats and Republicans, although those are real” Stelter adds. “But the biggest divide that we're seeing is between extremists and those who are moderates, the great silent majority."
Both guests also comment on the media's role in this fraught environment, with Hemmer critiquing prediction-focused coverage and Stelter advocating for better representation of casual news consumers and politically fatigued voters. The three also discuss the likelihood of Biden stepping down, an eventuality that Stelter argues is inevitable. “It is clear the Democratic Party elites are not with Biden. And I don't see that tide turning. I don't see how it changes.”
Stelter: It's clear the Democratic party elites are not with Biden
The rats are abandoning the ship, as the saying goes. In this case, the Democratic leadership are the ones fleeing, and the ship they're abandoning is President Biden. After the failed assassination attempt on former President Trump, which thrust the country into one of the most tumultuous political weeks in recent memory, chatter is getting louder again within the Democratic Party for Biden to step down.
In a wide-ranging interview for the latest episode of GZERO World, media journalist, and former CNN show host Brian Stelter joins Vanderbilt political historian Nicole Hemmer on a panel with Ian Bremmer to take stock of the week that was and to chart the way forward for the Democratic Party. But there's no getting around the optics. Just as the GOP was displaying a tight-knit sense of unity at the RNC convention in Milwaukee, the Democrats were in disarray. Stelter says that when it comes to Joe Biden's future, the writing is on the wall.
"It's been drip, drip, drip, drip, drip for the better part of a month now. Through reporting, through analysis, through polling, through donor statements, and probably most importantly from the statements of elected officials, it is clear the Democratic Party elites are not with Biden. And I don't see that tide turning."
But even if every senator, official, and elder statesperson in the Democratic elite urges President Biden to get out of the race, it's up to the man himself to make that decision. And as he recovers in isolation from COVID, there's not indication yet that Biden's any closer than he was weeks ago, after his disastrous debate performance, to passing the torch. In the meantime, the Dems will wait and worry, and the only thing they'll be passing are the Tums.
Look for the full interview with Brian Stelter and Nicole Hemmer on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, airing on US public television soon (check local listings.)
Season 7 of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, launches nationwide on public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don''t miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
ChatGPT and the 2024 US election
2024 will be the first US presidential election in the age of generative AI. How worried should we be about the spread of misinformation and its implications for democracy?
In 2016, social media platforms became Petri dishes of disinformation as foreign actors and far-right activists spread fake stories and worked to heighten partisan divisions. The 2020 election was fraught with conspiracy theories and baseless claims about voter fraud.
As 2024 approaches, tech and media experts warn that new generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney have the potential to spread misinformation and disinformation faster and easier than ever before. And this comes as newsrooms are experiencing mass layoffs and trusted systems like Twitter’s verification process become further eroded.
On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Media experts Brian Stelter and Nicole Hemmer says the stakes are incredibly high for truth and democracy.
“I think AI is going to make it easier to have a lot more information pollution in the atmosphere,” Stelter warns.
But Hemmer says there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. “I think that people don’t want to be post-truth,” she argues, “So maybe that’s where we’ll see those green shoots as people innovate ways to make it easier to navigate a world that’s awash in this kind of disinformation.”
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: "Politics, trust & the media in the age of misinformation"
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
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Was CNN's Town Hall with Trump a mistake?
"The media is not the enemy. The media is the people. And yet that messaging's gone so awry." Media journalist and former CNN host Brian Stelter expresses such a basic thought in the latest episode of GZERO World, and yet it's one about which so many Americans disagree. Stelter joined media historian Nicole Hemmer for a special panel interview on the current state of our hyper-fragmented media landscape and to look ahead at how news outlets can recapture voters' trust ahead of the 2023 election.
A big part of that mission, says Stelter, is to do more listening. "We need to hear so much more from voters and, frankly, so much less from these politicians that are pandering to them."
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: "Politics, trust & the media in the age of misinformation"
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
When did people stop trusting the media?
There was a time, not so long ago, when people trusted the media, and not just their specific corners of it. Walter Cronkite. Edward R. Murrow. Dan Rather. These were people all Americans relied on to understand the world, and they did so without suspicion. Today, we live in a different reality (or multiple realities, in fact). But according to media historian Nicole Hemmer, the war on trust began decades ago.
Starting back in the 1970s, Hemmer says, "...it was advantageous to the Republican Party to try to create an alternative to the mainstream media, an alternative to the Walter Cronkites...We see that with Fox News in the '90s, but also with the rise of talk radio, and then to some extent, the rise of alternative social networks that's happening now."
Hemmer joined media journalist and former CNN host Brian Stelter on a special panel interview for GZERO World with Ian Bremmer. The two discussed how the hyper-fragmented media landscape in which we find ourself has actually been decades in the making. And they look ahead to the 2024 election and consider how media companies can rebuild trust with Americans during such a crucial time for democracy.
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: "Politics, trust & the media in the age of misinformation"
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
Politics, trust & the media in the age of misinformation
Ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, GZERO World takes a hard look at the media’s impact on politics and democracy itself.
In 1964, philosopher Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, “the media is the message.” He meant that the way content is delivered can be more powerful than the content itself.
A lot’s changed since 1964, but the problem has only gotten worse. The ‘80s and ‘90s saw the rise of a 24/7 cable news cycle and hyper-partisan radio talk shows. The 21st century has thus far given us podcasts, political influencers, and the endless doom scroll of social media. And now, we’re entering the age of generative AI.
All of this has created the perfect ecosystem for information––and disinformation––overload. But there might be a bright spot at the end of the tunnel. In the world where it’s getting harder and harder to tell fact from fiction, news organizations, credible journalists, and fact-checkers will be more important than ever.
How has media changed our idea of truth and reality? And how can we better prepare ourselves for the onslaught of misinformation and disinformation that is almost certain to spread online as the 2024 US presidential election gets closer? Can trust in American’s so-called “Fourth Estate” be restored?
Ian Bremmer sits down with journalist and former CNN host Brian Stelter and Nicole Hemmer, a Vanderbilt University professor specializing in political history and partisan media.
Watch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
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