Politics are super stress-inducing. Believe me—I know! I never wanted to become a political commentator until Donald Trump became President. Before 2019, I had not watched a minute of news and knew nothing about politics. I wasn’t the least bit interested and to be completely honest and transparent with you: I was happy. You know the saying, “Ignorance is bliss?” It’s true!
The funny thing about ignorance, though, is that once you learn about something, you can never go back. You can’t unlearn it. It simply isn’t possible to go back to ‘sleep’ once you’ve become woke. Yeah, I said it!
How to Become a Political Commentator: Brief Backstory
I’m embarrassed and ashamed of this now, but back then, I was in my 30s and had never watched the news because I saw no point in subjecting myself to it. I felt there was no point in hearing negative news reports that would only make me feel sad. Politics wasn’t on my radar at all at that time in my life.
I had never voted due to my fear of registering. I had heard that people were picked for jury duty from a list of registered voters and because I was a painfully shy, introverted person, doing anything that involved unfamiliar environments or experiences terrified me.
I’m embarrassed and ashamed to admit that now after I’ve become a political commentator who preaches the importance of voting and civic engagement. Never underestimate the power of fear and anxiety over someone who’s an introvert.
In 2019, I was picking my kids up from my Mom’s house after work, and she was watching the news. They just happened to be playing footage of then-President Donald Trump speaking at an event.
The things he was saying were so vile, hateful, and untrue that a fire was lit under my ass.
My nickname from my Mom growing up was “Fight the Power Serena” because A: I listened to Public Enemy (if you know, you’ll know), and B: I was outspoken and angry if I witnessed any form of injustice at the hands of an authority figure. So teachers being unfairly mean to a classmate, police harassing someone, etc. really made me upset (I also listened to NWA).
I registered to vote in 2019 just so I could vote Trump out of office in 2020, as did a lot of other people I knew. I took courses in civics and political science, I read and watched the news 24/7, and watching C-Span helped me to quickly become familiar with the names and personalities of the main players in Congress.
All of this helped me to become a political commentator, and I now want to share everything I’ve learned with others.
There you have it. A brief history of how I came to become a political commentator, social justice/climate activist and political blogger. Now I want to help others who don’t know anything about politics—where I was prior to 2019—or are aware of what’s happening in politics, but would like to gain more knowledge on the subject in order to become a political commentator.
Here are 5 things I did that helped me to become a political commentator online:
Contents
Stay informed by following reliable news sources
Make sure the news sources that you decide to read/watch are trustworthy and unbiased. Fox News is strictly reporting from a conservative perspective and they repeat Republican party talking points. They will never criticize a Republican president or politician, and anchors tell viewers that Democrats are the “enemy.”
The opinion hosts on Fox News spread misinformation, lies, and conspiracy theories. The same is true for conservative radio and cable news shows like OANN (One America News Network), or Newsmax. More right-wing news shows are popping up since Donald Trump began his second term in the White House due to a very large dark money funding apparatus on the Right. Podcast hosts like Ben Shapiro are paid millions to spread certain information for their donors.
Recently we learned that 3 separate conservative podcast hosts were being paid hundreds of thousands for each episode they produced that spread certain narratives supplied by Russia. It was a plan carried out by Vladimir Putin to help Donald Trump get elected.
MSNBC and CNN lean Democratic and won’t criticize Democratic politicians. CNN has been moving towards the center over the past year, but MSNBC still tends to support establishment Democrats no matter what they do.
Independent, nonprofit news sources are preferable (zanyprogressive.com is great!). Because they aren’t owned or funded by corporations, they are free to report the facts without feeling pressured to spread propaganda that favors corporations or corporate politics.
After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, a lot of the newspapers and mainstream media companies owned by billionaires have been making changes. They’ve started to report news about President Trump with a more positive spin, or at the very least they are normalizing his very abnormal behavior.
Watching independent news shows on YouTube is a great way to learn to become a political commentator as you listen to others give their political analysis.
Al Jazeerah, Reuters, Associated Press, and BBC are all reliable sources of information without obvious bias. In the realm of independent media you have TYT—a progressive news network that broadcasts on YouTube, Roku, Pluto TV, Twitch, and other streaming services.
Brian Tyler Cohen isn’t a news show, but a political commentator who does a great job sharing what is happening in U.S. politics. MeidasTouch is a pro-democracy network focused on factual reporting while favoring Democrats.
For world news coverage, BBC is good and Haaretz is an Israeli publication that has been breaking stories and reporting the truth about what’s happening in the Israel-Gaza war.
In my experience, the fastest way to learn about politics and become a political commentator is to watch C-Span. Their cameras are in the Senate and House of the U.S. Capitol recording whatever is happening live at the moment.
Instead of watching news reports about what happened during a congressional hearing that day, watch it live! That way you don’t have to worry if what you’re being told is accurate because you watched it happen with your own eyes.
Engage in political discussions with friends, family, or colleagues to gain different perspectives.
Talk to friends and family about politics, even if you don’t share their views. Having a political debate with a friendly partner is a great way to strengthen your ability to think on your feet and defend the policies you support.
If the conversation devolves into personal attacks, end it and try again later after you’ve both calmed down. If the person you’re debating isn’t able to remain calm and use facts to support their point of view, it’s best to simply agree that politics isn’t a topic up for discussion when you’re together.
Some people view someone in the other party as “the enemy” instead of a person who has a different political ideology. When I was growing up, Democrats and Republicans were friends. The only difference in opinion being which policies were best for the country.
The most popular political analyst on a Democratic news show was married to a popular political analyst on a Conservative news show. They were a famius couple at the time.
I can’t imagine that a relationship like that would even be possible today. Things changed around political discourse after Donald Trump’s first term.
The polarization in the country right now is the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime. It can also be dangerous, so my advice is: Don’t “talk politics” with strangers.
Attend local government meetings or political events
Go to a city council meeting or a town hall. You’ll have the opportunity to listen to local politicians discussing policies and local residents airing their grievances about the most important issues facing your local community. If you feel motivated to change things afterwards, run for local office!
People tend to be more focused on National politics, but it’s in local politics that you have a better opportunity to influence change that directly affects you, friends, and family. Most of the politicians in Congress started out at the local level in the beginning of their political careers.
Running for Congress at the federal level is not easy. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of money to run a political campaign. By starting out at the local level, you’ll have an opportunity to network and meet people that could potentially help you with fundraising should you later decide to run for a seat in the House of Representatives in D.C.
Read books written by experts on American politics
The Federalist Papers is a collection of essays written by our founding fathers on why they felt it was important to ratify the U.S. Constitution. All the President’s Men is a book written by 2 journalists, one you’ve likely heard about a lot over the last decade, Bob Woodward.
The book is about Woodward and his partner’s experiences in covering Watergate and how their reporting on it affected the Washington Post.
If there’s a President you like or a politician you find interesting, chances are there’s a book written about them if not written by them. You can also visit the local library to find a political science textbook or other nonfiction book on politics.
Reading will go a long way in helping you to become a political commentator. Learning the history of American politics, key events and important legislation will only help you to feel more confident in the analyses you provide.
Get involved in grassroots organizations or volunteer for political campaigns
If there’s something you disagree with that’s happening in the government, in politics, or in our elections, there’s very likely going to be an organization of people who are actively working to change it!
A problem that many Americans have with our government is corruption. They want to get dark money—and money in general—out of politics. Not only are the rich bribing our politicians to do things that hurt us rather than help us, but our politicians also engage in insider trading.
Corruption has been an issue ever since the Supreme Court made bribery legal by ruling that corporations were “people” and money was “speech.” That ruling gave corporations a right, under the Constitution, to free bribes or “speech.” It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?
When it comes to social Justice issues such as criminal justice reform, immigration reform, gun reform, or other reforms that involve our rights, there is definitely an organization or grassroots activist group already fighting to change it.
Join an organization working to change something you feel passionate about.
School shootings are a uniquely American issue, meaning it doesn’t happen in other countries. Why? Because the NRA and gun manufacturers have paid our politicians (mainly Republicans) not to do anything to solve the issue! “Thoughts and prayers” is the most they are willing to give us.
David Hogg, a survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, is remarkable when it comes to gun reform activism and lobbying members of Congress to do something.
Sandy Hook Promise is another organization that focuses on the issues of school shootings and gun violence.
Volunteering to help with a political campaign will give you an insider’s view of what’s behind the efforts to get a candidate elected. This kind of experience is especially invaluable to someone planning to run for office someday. You’ll make professional connections and even friends that you can turn to for advice with your own campaign for office or in your efforts to become a political commentator.
Stay Informed and Talk About Politics Often
It’s important that you are aware of current events in politics if you want to be a someone providing commentary. This isn’t something you can do by just learning about civics and the way our government functions.
You also need to be aware of current events, which party is in the majority (what bills are brought out to the floor for a vote is determined by the leader of the party in charge, among other things), what legislation is being proposed, and what the budget of the current administration consists of.
Politics today are in some ways less complicated than in the past largely due to tribalism. It makes it much easier to predict the behavior of a politician when every member of the party behaves the same way.
By watching the news every day, tuning into C-Span as often as you can, and learning about the way our government functions, you will soon be able to analyze the behavior and actions of a party or a politician and explain why something is happening or what the outcome might be.
To become a political commentator requires knowledge not just of current events, but the events of the past as well. History repeats itself in a circular fashion so by looking at a similar situation from the past, you can predict what might happen in the present. Learning about what is happening and which elected officials are currently in office is mandatory if you want to become a political commentator who is accurate and effective.
We’ll talk about the technical side of things—are you doing a podcast, writing a blog, or creating a news website—another time.
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