Letters

I’ve been intrigued by various impacts, some unintended, of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. A month or so before this year’s election, multibillionaire and immigrant Elon Musk, who gave $250 million-plus to Donald Trump’s campaign, proposed a lottery in the seven swing states that the election likely would turn on. He would give a million dollars per day to randomly picked voters from those states, $17 million in all, in the run-up to the election.

To be eligible, a voter had to be registered to vote by the required date, in that state, and respond to two questions pledging fidelity to the First Amendment (freedom of speech), and to the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms). Very thoughtful of Elon, the South African/U.S. citizen.

More than 10 years ago, I filmed an interview with pollster John Zogby at his polling facility in Utica. I also interviewed one of his employees whose job was to conduct “focus groups.”

It turns out that a “focus group” is a curious and murky thing, almost a kind of a dark science. Groups of people are recruited and asked questions, the phrasing of which is all important. The intent of those questions is somewhat obscure, but they ultimately help determine certain tendencies or the political leanings of the people interviewed.

At the same time, I realized that Elon Musk’s apparent interest in the wonders of U.S. democracy extended only to the seven swing states, and the questions were asked to people who were interested in signing up for a free lottery. They didn’t even have to purchase a ticket to buy a chance to win a million dollars. Personally, I’ve never bought a lottery ticket. However, I have often seen people buy $10 to $20 worth.

I reflected on the largely unexpected turnout in the seven swing states. Trump carried all of them, while Musk had given hundreds of millions of dollars to his campaign. I wondered if they had conducted focus groups.

Two decades ago, I made a film, “Orwell Rolls In His Grave,” about the mainstream media and its methodology; stories can be highlighted or ignored, but there are tendencies — they love polls but don’t cover the nature and use of focus groups.

Musk bought Twitter, renamed it X, a media platform with a penetration equal to the major media companies. Back in 2001, I interviewed Charles Lewis, an ex-“60 Minutes” producer who founded the Center For Public Integrity. His aim was to report and inform without fear or favor. I was struck by his grim outlook.

Our political system has been pierced, co-opted. The impacts are yet to be fully understood, but it can’t be good.

Thank you, Supreme Court.

Robert Kane Pappas

Southampton