Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Ugly campaign ads and car wrecks: Why we can't turn away

Person being overloaded with messaging

Political ads are expected to increase by 25 percent over 2020.

AndreyPopov

Klug served in the House of Representatives from 1991 to 1999. He hosts the political podcast “ Lost in the Middle: America’s Political Orphans.”

If you live in a battleground state, here’s a little nugget to ruin your week.

Reuters says political advertising in the upcoming campaigns will be up more than 25 percent from 2020 and will likely exceed $13 billion. The radio, TV and internet bombardment is just around the corner for swing state voters.


They are already heading for the air raid shelters inErie, Pa., as the barrage rains down from the skies in the bellwether county. Since 2008 there have been 25 statewide elections in Pennsylvania, and this northwestern corner has picked the winner 92 percent of the time.

Mary Buchert, an Erie swing voter, is one of the “political orphans” featured in my podcast, “Lost in the Middle.” She freely admits she hates the ads but finds herself staring at them. “It’s like rubbernecking at an accident, “she said.

In 2022, Pennsylvania Democrats launched a new dangerous strategy that was soon deployed nationwide. During the gubernatorial primary race that year, they spent millions against the moderate Republican campaigning – in order to ensure their candidate would run against a Trump acolyte in the general election.

When they used the same tactics to beat a moderate Michigan Republican who voted to impeach Donald Trump, a cadre of prominent Democrats wrote to the national Democratic Party saying it was a very risky gamble.

Former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer was a leader of the pushback. “To me it’s wrong on so many levels. Why would we risk promoting an election denier? Keep playing this game and you will eventually lose.”

But his warnings went unheeded this spring when the Democrats played the same cards to help a Trumper win the Republican Senate primary in Ohio.

Erie businessman Tim Wachter is delighted he won’t see all of the negative ads this cycle. Once very active in politics, the 2022 election drove him to cancel his cable.

“Once you extract yourself from all of it, it’s really quite liberating,” he said.

Ugly campaign ads and car wrecks: Why we can't turn away by Scott Klug

Read on Substack

Read More

When Good Intentions Kill Cures: A Warning on AI Regulation

Kevin Frazier warns that one-size-fits-all AI laws risk stifling innovation. Learn the 7 “sins” policymakers must avoid to protect progress.

Getty Images, Aitor Diago

When Good Intentions Kill Cures: A Warning on AI Regulation

Imagine it is 2028. A start-up in St. Louis trains an AI model that can spot pancreatic cancer six months earlier than the best radiologists, buying patients precious time that medicine has never been able to give them. But the model never leaves the lab. Why? Because a well-intentioned, technology-neutral state statute drafted in 2025 forces every “automated decision system” to undergo a one-size-fits-all bias audit, to be repeated annually, and to be performed only by outside experts who—three years in—still do not exist in sufficient numbers. While regulators scramble, the company’s venture funding dries up, the founders decamp to Singapore, and thousands of Americans are deprived of an innovation that would have saved their lives.

That grim vignette is fictional—so far. But it is the predictable destination of the seven “deadly sins” that already haunt our AI policy debates. Reactive politicians are at risk of passing laws that fly in the face of what qualifies as good policy for emerging technologies.

Keep ReadingShow less
Why Journalists Must Stand Firm in the Face of Threats to Democracy
a cup of coffee and a pair of glasses on a newspaper
Photo by Ashni on Unsplash

Why Journalists Must Stand Firm in the Face of Threats to Democracy

The United States is living through a moment of profound democratic vulnerability. I believe the Trump administration has worked in ways that weaken trust in our institutions, including one of democracy’s most essential pillars: a free and independent press. In my view, these are not abstract risks but deliberate attempts to discredit truth-telling. That is why, now more than ever, I think journalists must recommit themselves to their core duty of telling the truth, holding power to account, and giving voice to the people.

As journalists, I believe we do not exist to serve those in office. Our loyalty should be to the public, to the people who trust us with their stories, not to officials who often seek to mold the press to favor their agenda. To me, abandoning that principle would be to betray not just our profession but democracy itself.

Keep ReadingShow less
Fighting the Liar’s Dividend: A Toolkit for Truth in the Digital Age

In 2023, the RAND Corporation released a study on a phenomenon known as "Truth Decay," where facts become blurred with opinion and spin. But now, people are beginning to doubt everything, including authentic material.

Getty Images, VioletaStoimenova

Fighting the Liar’s Dividend: A Toolkit for Truth in the Digital Age

The Stakes: When Nothing Can Be Trusted

Two weeks before the 2024 election, a fake robocall mimicking President Biden's voice urged voters to skip the New Hampshire primary. According to AP News, it was an instance of AI-enabled election interference. Within hours, thousands had shared it. Each fake like this erodes confidence in the very possibility of knowing what is real.

The RAND Corporation refers to this phenomenon as "Truth Decay," where facts become blurred with opinion and spin. Its 2023 research warns that Truth Decay threatens U.S. national security by weakening military readiness and eroding credibility with allies. But the deeper crisis isn't that people believe every fake—it's that they doubt everything, including authentic material.

Keep ReadingShow less
From TikTok to Telehealth: 3 Ways Medicine Must Evolve to Reach Gen Z
person wearing lavatory gown with green stethoscope on neck using phone while standing

From TikTok to Telehealth: 3 Ways Medicine Must Evolve to Reach Gen Z

Ask people how much they expect to change over the next 10 years, and most will say “not much.” Ask them how much they’ve changed in the past decade, and the answer flips. Regardless of age, the past always feels more transformative than the future.

This blind spot has a name: the end-of-history illusion. The result is a persistent illusion that life, and the values and behaviors that shape it, will remain unchanged.

Keep ReadingShow less