“The closeness of the race means that anti-social politics will raise its ugly head in the months ahead, likely through some ugly content (even AI) appearing in your socials one day soon,” writes political  columnist ANDREW HUGHES.

Twenty-twenty-five is already turning out to be an interesting year, and the campaign itself hasn’t even kicked off yet. 

Yet one figure dominates above all others, regardless of your postcode, and that is Donald Trump, 47th President of the United States of America. 

There is only one world leader who has the ability to impact domestic politics in any nation on earth, and that is the US President. So here are some of the bigger ways I see that influence playing out here. 

Noise, narrative and news

Trump’s successful election strategy was simple. Create more noise than your opponent every day. Control the noise, and you control the campaign narrative and direction. Then conversations every day are about you and not about anyone else. 

Opponents have little time to develop consistency in comms and instead are in a constant state of unease and having to respond to whatever it is you have talked about, which is usually controversial somehow, so it acts as a nice distractor from your key weakness if in opposition: a lack of depth on policy. 

Opponents are usually portrayed as weak and disorganised, which blunts their attempts at momentum building. 

For many reasons this strategy is harder to do here, but not impossible. Dutton’s imitation of it has been more strategic and effective, as he’s gaining momentum in key markets, such as Victoria, which are required to win office. 

Labor has long run a variation of this as well, although theirs is based on the daily announcement, as we saw Andrew Barr and his team do in election 2024, and now Albanese is doing the same in 2025. 

With the emphasis on policy, though, it can lack the power of a charismatic or divisive figure to get the same traction as what a Trump may get. You can be the judge of the virtues of that. 

Next is how news works in 2025. Rapidly disappearing are traditional and heritage outlets, replaced by vloggers, bloggers, podcasters and influencers. They are more likely to be partisan and less interested in the balance. 

This is happening here now, but slowly, as no single media personality has Joe Rogan-like power in Australia – yet! And some of the influencers are stuck on the sandy bum content model for now. This may yet be the year that changes as some, such as OzzyManReviews (6.14 million subscribers on YouTube), made forays into opinions during the Voice. Dutton has tried the podcast by doing an interesting hour-long piece with Sam Fricker (5.68 million subscribers on YouTube). 

More interesting is how the Australian Electoral Commission may define this content. Is it personal, and therefore not subject to authorisation requirements, or party political? Hmmm…

Anti-social politics 

Once upon a time, politicians may have disliked each other on policy, but rarely personally. There was respect, as seen in Christmas wishes or condolence motions for past greats. The Trump model eschews that somewhat. 

Time to get the sledgehammer and blow torch out for those true believers from the other side. This is something I’ve noticed a lot in recent dealings with (some) politicians from all sides. The tone has changed. Either you are one of the promised or just filth from the other side. 

Tariffs are a form of this, rewarding the domestic market for loyalty, not caring about the externals because they don’t vote for you. They should be so grateful for getting even second-hand subs for new prices. 

It’s hard, anti-social politics that turns many of us off politics. For some in politics, this is fine as it makes it even harder to get engagement, and influence, on messages. It favours the dominant player of the noise game. 

The Greens have tried this here, what Adam Bandt has called combative politics, but it hasn’t had the same impact. Again, Australia is not the US. What may work there, may not here. Even locally in the ACT the Liberals tried a bit of this in campaign 2024, but without the same effectiveness as Trump had. 

The mood has undoubtedly changed now. The closeness of the race means that anti-social politics will raise its ugly head in the months ahead, likely through some ugly content (even AI) appearing in your socials one day soon. Urgh. 

Issues not platforms

Trump was big on issues, less so the big platform as parties had in days gone by. Labor used to have manifestos and policy docs so big they handed out USBs to the media for ease. Gone. 

Now it’s the Issue of the Week. Short, reactive politics to match how we digest much of our content now. In short form. TLDR on this: move fast or be moved because you are last. 

Depth has been replaced by speed and being first. Details follow eventually. If at all. 

Is there more? Oh, yes, there is, but eventually. 

Dr Andrew Hughes is a lecturer in marketing with the Research School of Management at ANU where he specialises in political marketing and advertising.