In the weeks following the 2024 presidential election, the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics hosted a group of high-profile speakers. While the country grapples with the upcoming change in party leadership, the Harvard community had the opportunity to hear from experts across the political spectrum—journalists, politicians, and academics alike. Here is a rundown of just a few of the speakers that hit the forum stage on the week of Nov. 12.
On Nov. 12, Pete Buttigieg ’04, United States Secretary of Transportation and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana started off the week with a discussion on policy and his role in the White House. Buttigieg told the audience about his thoughts on the country’s economy, new regulatory and economic initiatives that have been implemented during his time in the Department of Transportation (DOT), and how politics impacts his personal life.
The conversation was moderated by Setti Warren, the Director of the Institute of Politics and former mayor of Newton, Mass. Warren asked Buttigieg for updates on the aviation industry, noting the surge in consumer complaints about cancellations, pricing, and delays, which have intensified due to economic disruptions and industry challenges in recent years. “We have set about the biggest expansion of passenger protections since the Department was created in this modern form, and I’m really proud of that,” Buttigieg said.
He explained how the DOT has pushed airline companies to be more transparent by requiring them to publicly share their customer service policies online. Additionally, the department has implemented automatic refunds for canceled flights and introduced new measures to improve the passenger experience, particularly for those with disabilities, such as better wheelchair handling.
Buttigieg also discussed the topic of transportation safety. He emphasized that if we’ve reached a point where air travel has zero fatalities in a typical year, we can achieve the same safety standard for our roadways. “That’s exactly what we set out to do.”
Buttigieg and Warren then delved into a compelling discussion on trust in America, drawing upon Buttigieg’s 2020 book “Trust: America’s Best Chance.”
“Anytime there’s a policy failure, it erodes trust, and what’s really perverse about that is when social and political trusts are eroded, it becomes harder to do things, which means more policy failures,” Buttigieg suggested. “I want to make sure that we strip away some of the cosmic themes and the extraneous themes that have been introduced into our public and political life.”
His time as mayor directly impacted how he approaches life in local neighborhoods and communities. Buttigieg referenced his own family, as he came out as gay in 2015, married his husband in 2018, and adopted twins in 2021.
“I literally had the experience of having a wonderful pleasant meal with a member of Congress who gave me a gift for my children, and that same day went into the United States Capitol and voted against marriage equality. That takes some real compartmentalization,” Buttigieg shared.
His role in public life has taught him that, even when he disagrees with those around him, his responsibility is to focus on what is in front of him and ensure progress is made.
“The whole point of public service is that it’s not about you, and so while you as a person might be pissed off about how another person is standing in your way in a political objective, your function is not to impose your personal preferences on the world—your function is to serve others.”
On Nov. 14, journalist and news presenter Katie Couric spoke with Nancy Gibbs, the Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice and Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. They discussed the media’s role in today’s political landscape and the future of democracy.
Couric described the fragmented nature of today’s media landscape, where separate ecosystems deliver algorithmic content that often reinforces our viewpoints instead of challenging them. She shared her personal news consumption habits, which include both traditional outlets like The New York Times and Politico, as well as more nontraditional platforms such as Instagram and podcasts.
Couric and Gibbs noted that while interactive content and narrative interviews are appealing, they have become rare in today’s news cycles. Instead, the media has shifted its focus away from these popular formats and towards topics that resonate less with audiences. “We’ve lost the room. We’ve lost touch with the average person,” Couric reflected.
Couric discussed how the ways we receive our media and which outlets we gravitate to are changing. The number of Americans consuming traditional newspapers and television media is shrinking, while viewership of right-wing media or on nontraditional platforms has steadily increased.
“This right-wing media industrial complex—if you will—is so powerful and really influential,” Couric said. “There are people in this country, and that is all they hear, that’s all they read— that’s all they listen to, and they’re getting a very specific narrative and point of view.” Yet, Couric warned that this type of selective media intake can be what polarizes and spreads misinformation throughout our country.
Couric highlighted that the shift in media began early in her career, as the internet gained popularity and media started to go digital. She pointed to the 1994 viral clip, “What is the Internet?” from her time as co-host of Today, marking a key moment in the evolution of media. Couric’s media career has moved with the tides: after Today, Couric moved to CBS Evening News, becoming the first solo female news anchor of a major network. “I think it was shocking enough [for the public] to see someone do the evening news that had lipstick,” Couric joked.
Couric founded her own company, “Katie Couric Media,” in 2015. “I’m passionate about storytelling. I’m passionate about synthesizing and distilling complicated concepts to make them understandable for people. I am insatiably curious,” she emphasized.
Former Harvard President and economics professor Larry Summers took the stage 30 minutes after Couric’s event. Summers analyzed the future of economic policy through the lens of history, offering a projection of how the economy may shift following the election. He was joined by John Ellis, journalist and co-host of the political podcast “Night Owls.”
Summers and Ellis discussed rising inflation and its impact on the Democratic Party, with Summers noting during the forum that the party has taken much of the blame for the surge in prices in recent years.
“Three times in the last 75 years, a Democratic administration has prioritized things other than inflation more highly than inflation. And the result has been a major lurch to the right,” he stated. “That’s what happened with Richard Nixon’s election in 1968. That’s what happened after Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War. That’s what happened after Jimmy Carter, with Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980.”
He explained that while inflation may not be as severe as it’s often made out to be, it still feels real to many people, regardless of the actual numbers. “There’s a psychological aspect where people overstate how bad inflation is, and there’s a distributional aspect that if you have extra unemployment, it’s 2% of people who don’t have jobs. And if you have extra inflation, it’s 100% of people who see higher prices.”
“Inflation is deeply toxic for the progressive project, and progressives need to understand that. And they did so insufficiently. And that’s one of the important factors in this election.” Summers argues that this has become a significant issue for the Democratic Party and may have been one of the key factors that swung the presidential election in favor of the Republican Party.
But Trump’s plan would not make the country better, Summers explained, with multiple economic plans like tariffs on all imports and mass deportation that could lead to a labor shortage that would all raise inflation more than we’ve seen thus far. “If President Trump does what he said he would do during his campaign, the inflation shock administered to the economy would be substantially larger than anything that happened at the beginning of the last administration,” he warned.
The conversation also touched on a variety of pressing issues, including defense spending, national priorities, and government decision-making. Yet, one moment stood out when Summers shared his bold perspective on the future of artificial intelligence—a topic to which he is closely connected, given he joined the board of OpenAI in 2023.
“My guess is that when historians look back at the late first quarter of the 21st century, the most important thing that will have happened will not be the election of a populist in the United States or a war between Russia and Ukraine. It will be the sharp evolution that was taking place with artificial intelligence,” he stated.
“Artificial intelligence will be to the internet as the computer was to the calculator. And if that’s right, that’s a very large thing.”
The CNN NewsNight host joined Axios Live host and Fall 2024 IOP Resident Fellow Eugene Scott and Harvard Political Review president Liana McGhee ’25 on Nov. 18 in the forum. Abby Phillip ’10 shared her insights on the evolving role of the media in covering politics, highlighting the challenges faced by journalists in today’s polarized climate.
The trio began with a discussion about nontraditional media, which Phillip described as a “trend” of this year’s election cycle. Both candidates used a variety of mediums—podcasts, TikTok, and X—to reach voters, rather than relying solely on traditional platforms like television or print. But the right has a lock on this tactic: Phillip said that when you check the top ten political podcasts or YouTubers, the majority of them are right-leaning.
“There are huge megaphones on the right they can tap into, and they did, smartly, at this critical moment when there is this massive decline in engagement with traditional media, and the way you can amplify your message is by going to other places,” Phillips said.
She also remarked that Trump’s approach to engaging with the media was strategic, as he ventured into highly unconventional and risky spaces. In contrast, Harris, as Phillip noted, did not take the same risks; while she also reached different audiences, her appearances were in places where she was likely to be well-received. “The people who get their news from alternative sources, they give extra points for seeing you in the places where they don’t expect you. Politicians will have to take note of that and figure out how they can get comfortable doing that, because that’s the future.”
She provided specific insights into her journalism career, explaining how her experience as a reporter and writer has equipped her to engage with people and better understand their concerns. Before joining CNN, Phillip covered politics for Politico, The Washington Post, and served as an ABC News Fellow.
“I think that when you go out into the world and you talk to people, you realize that regular people tend to have the ability to hold complex thoughts in their minds better than pundits do,” Phillip explained. “If you were to only listen to pundits, you’d only see the world in this one way, whereas most regular people are living in those nuances in their everyday lives. They believe nontraditional things—contradictory things. I have a great appreciation for that as a journalist.”
Due to this understanding, Phillip felt that the election outcome seemed likely. She noted that after the assassination attempt on Trump, his approval ratings surged, indicating that voters were still inclined to support him despite the surrounding controversies. “You can see the sense in the electorate, that people were just not that interested in the controversial parts in Trump. They just didn’t think it was that important to them. It didn’t matter to them.”
The conversation then shifted to the topic of declining trust in the media. While Phillip acknowledged the concern, she argued that the real issue lies in the lack of skepticism toward what people encounter on the internet. “I worry when people just take that stuff and they don’t look at it critically and say, “Is this true?” And that happens every day,” she expressed. “If people dig a little bit deeper, they are more likely to come up with better information than if they take things hook, line, and sinker.”
“We can do as much as we can to always put factual information in the forefront, but we are not going to save us from the deluge of disinformation. I think we all have to play a role in that.”
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The forum stage also saw appearances from former senior counselor to President Trump and political pollster Kellyanne Conway and former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt. Throughout the week, these forum events highlighted the continued political discourse surrounding media and culture, as the nation reflects on the election results and anticipates what may lie ahead.
Layla Chaaraoui ’26 (laylachaaraoui@college.harvard.edu) is the Managing Editor of the Independent.