24sight News by Tom LoBianco: The Level by Michael Cohen

The War on Political Spam Texts and Social Ads

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 20:22:33 GMT

(Photos, Getty Imagaes, Screenshots. Graphic by Tom LoBianco/24sight News.)

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Over the past few days, two of the largest tech companies in the world have taken aim at political text spam and online ads. The next Apple operating systems will begin offering the ability to filter t…

Building Patriotism

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 18:52:03 GMT

People in Washington D.C. celebrate July 4, 2025. (Photo by Dominic Gwinn / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

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Ed. Notes from Tom L.

If you miss one of our Substack Lives, you can find them over at the 24sight YouTube P…

MAGA Matures and Fractures

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 14:03:36 GMT

Pat Buchanan running for president in 1992, at the fabled Dixville Notch in New Hampshire. Buchanan’s insurgent bid against President George H.W. Bush exposed fault-lines in the Reagan coalition. (Photo by Steve Liss/Getty Images)

Support independent journalism, paid supporters get full access, including archived Substack Live Recordings at the Super Sec…

The Final Apprentice

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 05 May 2025 11:10:06 GMT

(Screenshot of C-SPAN. Graphic by Tom LoBianco/24sight News.)

The Political Turing Test

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 12:05:17 GMT

We are entering a new era where we may not be able to tell the difference between real political communication and content created by artificial intelligence. Right now, we can pass a Political Turing Test, intuitively discerning what is real and fake. But the leap forward in campaign technology is testing the boundaries and over the next few cycles we …

Gavin Newsom is for He/Him

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 14:59:02 GMT

The digital currency of the modern political campaign is authenticity and the 2024 election exposed Gavin Newsom’s presidential investments. He played Democratic Party loyalist, supporting Joe Biden until he left the race. He supported Kamala Harris as his replacement, despite no votes being cast for her.

But it was all a ruse. The California governor wa…

Restoring Trust in News Will Take More Than a Summit

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 14:49:24 GMT

Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith interviews former Fox News host Megyn Kelly at Semafor’s “Innovating to Restore Trust in News” summit

Last Thursday, I watched a cringy and tone-deaf Semafor event billed as a “National Summit” on “Innovating to Restore Trust in News.” Kudos to Semafor for assembling an A-List group of interviewees on an important topic.…

Trump’s Hobbesian Honeymoon

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 14:55:53 GMT

Polling average of opinions of President Donald Trump via 538.

Donald Trump’s polling honeymoon has been nasty, brutish, and short.

During the English Civil War, Thomas Hobbes described in Leviathan a life without government: chaos and people in constant fear of violent death. After a month of DOGE nastiness, the chaos is real and the “death” of new publ…

How to Support a Free Press

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 14:34:07 GMT

Then-ABC News anchor Peter Jennings interviews Bill Clinton in New Delhi in March 2000. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons.)

Given the decades-long assault on the news industry, I think it’s time for those of us who seek information to take a step back and reevaluate what a free press is and how we can support it.

I find myself in this weird place where I gre…

Winning by targeting straws that don't suck

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 17:02:34 GMT

Then-president Bill Clinton speaks with students. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons, graphic by Kaylie Klausing/24sight News.)

Having ripped Make America Great Again from Ronald Reagan’s ‘80s two terms, Donald Trump is now moving onto the next two-term President of the United States of his prime: Bill Clinton in the ‘90s.

In personal ways, Trump and Clinton ha…

It's easier to swim for four years when we do it together

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 12:54:53 GMT

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Now we know what a fully professional Trump administration looks like. Beyond the executive orders, some performative, but far more substantive, there has been a whole of government shift. Career professionals fired. Agency walls painted gray, covering up inclusive messaging. Elon Musk and DOGE, and the corresponding ci…

DOGE: The You Cannot Be Serious Committee

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 19:57:06 GMT

John McEnroe at Wimbledon. (Screenshot of ESPN on YouTube by Tom LoBianco/24sight News.)

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As I was updating the evolving structure of the 119^th Congress for our apps, one caught my eye immediately: The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.

That’s D…

What to Expect When Trump Tackles Immigration

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 15:40:16 GMT

🚨🚨 Please welcome , 24sight News’ very first intern! I’m very excited to have Kaylie on board, she’s a senior at Fisher College in Boston, studying journalism. She’s coming on at one of the wildest moments in modern American history and will be writing, researching and more here. Welcome, Kaylie, to the 24sight family! 🚨🚨

Programming notes: Catch 24s…

How my team trained AI to Read the Bill

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:45:36 GMT

Congress in Your Pocket AI summary of H.R. 7511 “The Laken Riley Act” (Graphic by Tom LoBianco/24sight News. Capitol via Wikimedia Commons. Congress in Your Pocket screenshot by Tom LoBianco.)

Programming notes: New episode of The Ground Game posting tomorrow with as well as fresh content from Mr. , proprietor of “The Booboisie” here on 24sight News.

Ca…

Cohen: Thank your mentors

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 19:06:51 GMT

Photo of former U.S. Rep. M. Robert Carr, who mentored Michael Cohen for years. Call your mentor, friends. (Photos via George Washington University and Wikimedia Commons. Graphic by Tom LoBianco/24sight News.)

** Programming notes. Make sure to stop by the 24sight News livestream on the Substack app at 4p ET for our de facto Friday Happy Hour.

Launching …

Cohen: Don't call it a honeymoon

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 14:13:59 GMT

The RealClearPolitics average of president-elect Donald Trump’s favorable and unfavorable ratings in a variety of national polls. (Screenshot by Tom LoBianco/24sight News.)

After a national election, it’s common to give the president-elect a honeymoon period where the incoming administration gets both good vibes and the benefit of the doubt. This is usua…

Cohen: Lessons learned from the 2024 election

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 20:06:51 GMT

Screenshot of C-SPAN Washington Journal interview of James Carville and Stan Greenberg on their release of their book, a play on Carville’s adage from the 1992 race, “It’s the economy, stupid”. (Screenshot by Tom LoBianco/24sight News.)

“What Did We Learn From the 2024 Presidential Election?”

In preparation for our latest Px3 podcast (posting later) with …

Cohen: What the Selzer Exit Says About Polling

Michael D. Cohen, Ph.D. — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:03:37 GMT

RealClearPolitics listing of national polls in the 2024 White House race. (Screenshot by Tom LoBianco/24sight News.)

Friends, I’m excited to announce the launch of a weekly column from the great and thoughtful Michael Cohen, author of the book Modern Political Campaigns, president of Cohen Research Group and a 30-year veteran of the polling industry. I’v…