Longtime Listener, First-Time Candidate

[Commentary] We are now just 20 days away from what may turn out to be the most watched political event in history: the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. In one corner stands Clinton, surrounded by the type of advisers who have prepared candidates of both parties for decades: debate coaches, policy wonks, pollsters, researchers, wordsmiths, and all the rest (she’s also reportedly getting help from Art of the Deal ghostwriter Tony Schwartz and a few psychologists playing the role of Clarice Starling to Hillary’s Jack Crawford). In the other corner is Trump, flanked by the de facto leaders of today’s Republican Party, a cult of media personalities whose power and influence over the GOP base is unmatched by any conservative politician or intellectual: former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes (net worth: $75 million; audience: no. 1 cable network in America), Breitbart News chairman Steve Bannon ($41 million; 31 million unique monthly visitors), Fox News/talk radio host Sean Hannity ($35 million; 2-plus million viewers, 12.5 million listeners), and talk radio host/author Laura Ingraham ($45 million; 6 million listeners). Others advise and actively support the nominee’s candidacy through their media platforms, from Rush Limbaugh ($350 million; 13-plus million listeners) to Ann Coulter ($8.5 million; 3-plus million books sold) to Alex Jones ($8 million; 7 million unique monthly visitors).

Elections are a contest between the stories the candidates tell about the country they hope to lead, and that’s especially true at a time when the line between media and politics has almost disappeared. The entertainers who are running Trump’s campaign know their story well. The Democrats and Republicans who want him defeated know they have a better one — we just can’t forget to tell it.

[Jon Favreau was President Barack Obama’s head Speechwriter from 2005–2013.]