Reputation Management...It's All Rigged

With the US elections drawing closer, it perhaps comes as no surprise that our editors have found themselves caught up to some degree in the electioneering that has been really hotting up lately, especially with the presidential debates which continue to dominate the media.

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Whilst we won't be sharing any political opinions, our editors have nevertheless picked on some of the most amusing and contentious aspects associated with each presidential candidate's efforts to win the crown.

This week, we commence with Victor Golovtchenko's reading recommendation...Ivanka to the rescue!

Branding Strategy

The New Yorker explores one aspect of the US election that Donald Trump never thought about when he decided to run. When he decided to join the Republican primary contest he may never have suspected how far would he get and how much damage he would inflict on his brand.

Unlike his typical electorate, Trump’s brand has high value among wealthy and well educated individuals that have not been fond of his comments and are not very likely to support him in November.

The Donald’s daughter that has been left in charge of the Trump empire is now struggling to restore the reputation of her brand. The latest batch of comments from her father has caused an outcry amongst professional women and working mothers that are the biggest customers of Ivanka’s line of fashion items, including clothes, handbags, shoes, and accessories.

This is the time when she gets to prove if she is as good a businesswoman as her father allegedly is.

Its All ‘Rigged’

With a little over three weeks to until to the US presidential election on November 8th, prospective voters as well as onlookers domestically and abroad are starting to view the race in very different ways.

A week ago the race had devolved into a referendum on the Republican nominee, Donald Trump’s temperament and his treatment of women – today, the race seems to have taken a new shift, this time focusing on the integrity of the electoral process itself.

Allegations of a rigged election are nothing new – they just usually occur outside the United States in developing countries and other less democratic regions. That it's mid October and the talk of the political universe – at least on one side of the aisle – appears to be warning signs of a rigged electoral process is not only problematic but potentially dangerous for US democracy.

Despite the Republican Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence calming nerves that he, and by extension Mr. Trump, would accept the electoral results, i.e. the will of the voting public on November 8th, Trump has doubled or tripled down on stoking fears of rigged voting, namely in contrast to widespread nonpartisan polling in key states.

Earlier this year, Mr. Trump had pointed to Pennsylvania as a potential flashpoint in voting fraud, despite nonpartisan experts citing fraud as a 3 in 15 million scenario.

Despite this empirical evidence, large swaths of the voting public seem to disagree with this assertion. According to a recent article on Politico, upwards of 41% of voters think the election could be ‘stolen’ from Donald Trump due to widespread voter fraud.

The results were garnered from a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, which was conducted among 1,999 registered voters between October 13-15. The poll showed some rather troubling results, with Mr. Trump’s multiple warnings of rigging finally gaining traction with the electorate.

As such, upwards of 73% of Republicans think the election could be swiped from him. By extension, 17% percent of Democrats believe that the prospect of massive fraud at the ballot box is possible.

Interestingly, public sentiment seems to run counter to a recent tranche of polling, which almost universally has shown Mr. Trump down in key states and nationally to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

With the election nearing, polls will increasingly be used as a key barometer, especially with early voting having already begun in many states.

Unfortunately for voters, US residents, and in many instances financial market participants, eyes will not only be on the electoral result but whether Mr. Trump will accept the result of the voting itself.

Google Administration

This week I want to suggest you read “The Android Administration” from David Dayen at The Intercept. This story is a few months old but I think now is a good time to give it another look.

The reason for this is that the global media seems to be obsessed with the US presidential election at the moment and with all the excitement we might forget to ask who really controls the free world.

While this article doesn’t show by itself that Google is the driving force behind the US government, it does expose the incredible level of influence it enjoys.

Considering that it dominates all human access to information – internet searches, most of our phones, web browsers, everything we see on YouTube - and that it is in the process of taking over AI, cars and robots, we might want to keep a closer eye on Google than on the person in the White House.

We conclude another week of stories that our editors are reading. Feel free to share your views in the comment section and any recommendations of your own. We look forward to hearing your opinions!

Check out our previous posts here:

Too Big to Jail and Where the Brexit Bankers Will Go

Death and Taxes…and a $10 Billion Scandal

Multiplanetary Species and Climate Change

The Mass-Text Manhunt and Fixing the Blue Screen of Death

The Red Pill and the Encyclopedia Reader

A Less-Cash Society and a $10 Billion Scandal

Coffee, Genes and All The Rest

Taking a Little Trip and Trading’s Resemblence to Poker

The Perils of Low Interest Rates and Subprime Auto Loans

No Gold Medals for Waste, Corruption….or Smog

No Doubt The Most Brutal Fight Yet

Robots, Cyber Motives and a Trader’s Addiction

An Attractive Commodity and the Pyschology Behind the Far Right

Banking on Pokemon and a Philosophical Victory

A New Breed of Plutocrats and China’s New Weapon

Gold Standard After Brexit and a matter of National Identity

Genetically Edited Humans And Electronic Persons

Computerised Storytelling And Quantitative Easing Doldrums

Eyeing Up This Year’s Biggest Tech IPO And The Search For Quantum Questions

Financial Efficiencies And Inefficiencies

The Bank Robber And The Psychologist

Fly Me To The Moon….And Bremain In The EU

Brexit: Ice-Cream Magic Or An Artistic Defeat

Virtual Reality and the Dark Side of Shaming

Insider Trading and the Dude Driving Istanbul Mad

On Valley Life and Opening Up AI