This makes sense to me. I saw similar things in newspaper comments sections. I have a weird habit of always scrolling to comments sections of news articles. It gives me an interesting snapshot of a huge range of opinions. On political articles, I consistently saw so many comments from Trump supporters, with some consistent threads of opinions (as well as more fringe or extreme ideas) that just weren't being represented strongly enough in the general media. I also of course saw comments from Hillary supporters and Trump haters. Their arguments and thoughts WERE already being represented strongly in the general media - there was not much new that I learned there. Something that Obama hasn't addressed is just how biased our mainstream newspapers and magazines were in the run-up to the election. As someone living in a highly liberal area (and who is not aligned with Trump's politics - before I get criticized to infinity) I felt I gained a lot of understanding for why people were supporting Trump, not from the dozens of mainstream newspaper articles I read each day, but from comments sections. I view that as a media fail. I was the only person of my peer group who was not shocked about Trump's win. I'd also add - the media strategy didn't work. Marginalizing people's voices and points of view - often people who felt marginalized in other ways (economic etc), strengthened their resolve to vote for the person who DID hear them (which was Trump.)