United States Politics: ∆τ_i*ε*φ*m_i<0 where ε=4 and φ=0.25

[benji]

A prompt on the website formerly known as Twitter to share your top 20 songs recently set off a sharing frenzy:

“Make a 20-track comp of your all-time fav tracks, each artist can only feature once,” the X user, Nick Worrall, posted. “Not the ‘best’ songs, the ones that bring instant joy the second you hear the first note, the ones that give other people the best insight into what stirs your soul. Share when ready. #20tracks”

If this prompt really could tell us “what stirs your soul,” we thought about whom we wanted to know on such an intimate level the most. Easy: the 2024 candidates.

So we sent an email to all the 2024 candidates asking them for their top 20 songs. Not all of them responded, of course, and a few responded with fewer than 20, making us wonder if they’re really in it for the long haul. But there’s plenty to love, disagree with and wonder about in the lists of those who did. If you think someone’s picks can really tell us something about their soul, it’s worth wondering what made Chris Christie choose “Thunder Road” out of all of his beloved Bruce Springsteen’s songs — a track about getting older and “one last chance to make it real.”

We even made their playlists available on Spotify, so you can download the one you like best. (Not all candidates stuck to the rule about not repeating artists, but we forgave the oversight.) We’ll be keeping an eye on whose playlist gets the most downloads, so you can vote on the candidates’ music tastes, even if you don’t plan on voting for the candidate.