If Presidents Were Chosen Like Oscars, You Might Not Be So Sad Right Now

If Presidents Were Chosen Like Oscars

Are you frustrated by how Americans pick presidents? Do you sometimes wish there were another method for choosing the leader of the free world? Luckily, Hollywood has just what you’re looking for. If only the U.S. voted for president the way members of the Academy vote for the best picture Oscar — through ranked-choice voting, or RCV — the sort of people who end up in the Oval Office might look very different. The way RCV works is that voters select their first, second and third choices on their ballots; if their first choice doesn’t reach 50 percent in the initial tally, their ballot counts toward their second choice in the next tally, and so on, until one candidate emerges victorious. It’s likely how long-shot movies like Moonlight and Parasite ended up winning best picture, and could give less polarizing presidential candidates a better shot at the White House. In fact, several states already are experimenting with RCV; Democrats have used it in elections in Alaska, Hawaii and Wyoming, while Republicans in Virginia have tried it for certain state-wide contests.

“It solves the problem where the majority of people don’t want the plurality winner,” notes Rachael Cobb, an associate political science professor at Suffolk University. “It gives more people more ownership and more voice.” Take, for example, the vote that turned Donald Trump into a viable presidential candidate, the 2016 New Hampshire primary. Trump won that race with just 35 percent of the vote, beating John Kasich (16 percent), Ted Cruz (12), Jeb Bush (11), Marco Rubio (11) and Chris Christie (7). Under RCV, it’s possible one of those other Republicans might have garnered enough second- and third-choice votes to win the state and ultimately the nomination. Like The Revenant — you remember, the divisive Leonardo DiCaprio movie that got beat in ranked-choice voting by the more universally appreciated Spotlight in 2015 — Trump’s campaign juggernaut might have been slowed. — Steven Zeitchik

A Facebook Page Purports Madonna’s Daughter Has Gone MAGA, but Reps Say It’s Fake 

There is every reason to believe Madonna voted for Kamala Harris. For one thing, shortly after the election, the 66-year-old pop legend posted a photo on Instagram of a cake decorated with the words “FUCK TRUMP” (“stuffed my face with this last night,” she informed her 19 million followers). She also endorsed her in October and said she was coming back to the United States so she could vote for Harris. Still, it turns out there’s another social media account, this one purporting to contain the online musings of Madonna’s 28-year-old daughter, Lourdes Leon, that suggests otherwise. “Voted with my momma,” Leon — or at least someone claiming to be Leon — posted on a private Facebook page along with pictures of mother and daughter on Election Day that had also appeared on Madonna’s IG account. “I hate that she has to play like she voted for Whorris [sic] but hey she gotta play the rules.” Reps for Madonna and Leon vehemently insist the account is a fake, that neither would have voted for Trump, and that Leon would never be caught dead on a platform as uncool as Facebook. They add that Facebook has now taken down the page. Fair enough, but the account was in operation for more than a decade and contains hundreds of personal photos (Thanksgivings and birthdays at Madonna’s house; Lourdes working out with her father, personal trainer Carlos Leon). Madonna’s rep suggests those photos might have been hacked from Lourdes’ private Insta account, but even if true, the page has catfished a notable crowd. Among the page’s 135 friends: Madonna’s sister Melanie Ciccone and actress Rose McGowan (neither responded to requests for comment). Rambling learned of the account through another of those friends, who has followed the page for a decade and known Leon for years, though cannot say for sure whether it’s legit. 

Jon Batiste Thinks Trump May Be … Good for Artists?

In his first term, Trump sought to eliminate federal arts funding. What will be the cultural consequences of his return to the White House? For Jon Batiste — whose career has taken him from bandleading on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert to the highest echelons of jazz, pop and classical — the moment is ripe for opportunity. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” says the 38-year-old pianist. “The greatest transformations have come from people at the bottom, not the people in power. [That] is the stuff history is made of.” Batiste, who believes music can heal national division, is releasing his latest album Nov. 15, Beethoven’s Blues, which spans not merely styles but centuries. The experiment grew out of an improv he dashed off on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace last year in which Batiste infused Für Elise with blue notes and gospel chords. Why devote a whole album to the long-dead German composer? “It’s been 250-plus years,” he says. “It was due for an update.” 

This story appeared in the Nov. 13 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.