All he knows is the internet. He thinks that tabloid journalists are thick and can be played. But they're more intelligent than their broadsheet counterparts, with added ruthlessness and they (unlike a YouTuber) genuinely shape opinion. For anyone in public life, they are to be feared above all else.
There's no equivalent in America, so Trump sailed through. But in the UK, no-one insults the tabloids with impunity (except Coogan and Hugh Grant, whose careers are set and who both know the worst is out there). UKIP are fucked now. And Farage - who's wise to the game, and who is a very great deal more sinister than Akkad/Dankula - slips effortlessly into the voice of Brexit reason and, soon perhaps - blessed be the day - into power...
(, Fri 10 May 2019, 6:05, Reply)
But let's say the King of YouTube, Pewdiepie, stood for election. He'd get nowhere. Voters are conservative. They don't like rape jokes, they don't know who Pewdiepie is, they fear change that they don't understand. That Black Mirror episode seems prescient after Trump, but it's bollocks.
(, Fri 10 May 2019, 19:47, Reply)