1. Formal Rules
1.1. Contribution Caps
1.1.1. “For individual donors, the basic contribution for the current campaign cycle is $2,800 per candidate, per election. A primary election, general election, runoff election and special election are each considered to be a separate election with a separate limit. The limits that apply to contributions to PACs and political parties are different and vary according to details that are beyond the scope of this alert. So-called “Super PACs” are yet another category, with different rules: because they do not make contributions to candidates and are not controlled by an individual candidate, they may accept unlimited contributions, including from corporations and labor unions” (JDSUPRA, 2020).
1.2. Nonviolently, without intimidating opposing party candidates, opposition supporters or the media, and without the use of language inciting their own supporters to violence
1.2.1. This is an expectation that usually goes without saying. It just makes sense that the “leader of the free world” (eyeroll) would work for peace and prosperity; at least publicly.
1.3. Respecting the calendar of the elections
1.3.1. This is a norm that I think was so expected that most people did not realize they expected it. It generally goes without saying that the presidential candidates will campaign and debate on schedule.
1.4. Respecting the freedom of the press to cover the campaign and to express opinions on the campaigns
1.4.1. Presidents have usually acknowledged the importance of the media and the free press. When they get bad press, they tend to acknowledge it publicly with grace and dignity.
1.5. Accepting and complying with the official election results and the final decision of the election dispute resolution organization
1.5.1. Presidents are expected to obey laws as regards to elections. They are to respect the decision of the people, and either step down from their position or step into a position.
1.6. Respecting the right and freedom of other parties to organize and campaign, and to reach out to voters with their messages
1.7. Without coercion or vote buying
1.8. Respecting the electoral managers and not interfering with the performance of their duties
1.9. Respecting the rights of voters to obtain information from a variety of sources, and to attend political rallies of other parties
1.10. Using the official complaint process and the legal system for appeals
1.11. Without misrepresentation
1.11.1. “Political campaigns are protected by the First Amendment, but Freedom of Speech is not unlimited. For example, state laws prohibit candidates from using the term "reelect" in campaign signs and literature if the person is not the incumbent of that office. Candidates are also barred from making "false claims of support" that falsely state or imply the endorsement of a political party or an organization. Moreover, a candidate cannot state in printed campaign literature that specific individuals endorse the candidate without first obtaining written permission from those individuals. All of these laws speak to fraudulent misrepresentation by a candidate” (Jrank, 2020).
1.11.2. “For example, newspaper print ads, along with radio and television broadcasts, must convey to the public that a message is a paid advertisement. Such laws seek to prevent voters from believing that the message is actually news. In addition, the name of the candidate, party, or organization that paid for the advertisement must be disclosed at the beginning or end of the advertisement” (Jrank, 2020)
2. Compliance with rules?
2.1. Biden
2.1.1. Potential illegal contribution by twitter
2.1.1.1. “The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Friday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that the censorship of the New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings and former Vice President Joe Biden’s alleged knowledge of those dealings amounts to an “illegal corporate in-kind political contribution” to the Biden campaign… The complaint, filed by the RNC on Friday and obtained exclusively by Fox News, states that the RNC ‘believes that Twitter has violated FECA and the Commission’s Regulations by making corporate in-kind contributions to Biden for President.’ The RNC, in its complaint, said Twitter ‘is a partisan actor, run by partisan Democrats’ and is ‘using its corporate resources to provide active support for Joe Biden’s campaign in violation of federal law,’ and demanded the FEC ‘conduct an immediate investigation’ into Twitter’s ‘illegal in-kind contributions to the Biden campaign,’ and impose the maximum penalty allowed under the law’” (Mangan, 2020).
2.2. Trump
2.2.1. Trump running facebook ad saying he won the election
2.2.1.1. “The Trump campaign ran an ad on Facebook that appeared to imply an early victory for the president, a move that Facebook has said violates its policies. The ad features the president's face overlaid on a rising sun with a voiceover saying ‘it's morning in America. Donald J. Trump is still president of the United States’ (Canales, 2020).
2.2.2. Trump signing MAGA hats for troops
2.2.2.1. “CNN’s Pentagon correspondent said that President Trump signing red ‘Make America Great Again’ hats for troops in Iraq may have violated Defense Department rules. ‘What commander allowed that to really happen?’ Barbara Starr asked Wednesday night. ‘This is very much against military policy and regulation,’ Starr said. ‘Troops are not supposed to be involved in political activities; the U.S. military is not a political force” (Anapol, 2018).
2.2.3. Trump soliciting assistance from other countries for reelection
2.2.3.1. “Trump’s direct request that Ukrainian President Zelensky work with Trump’s personal lawyer and use Ukraine’s government resources to investigate Trump’s political opponent served no apparent purpose other than to benefit Trump’s reelection efforts. In other words, Trump solicited a campaign contribution from President Zelensky. In the campaign finance world, a “contribution” is any ‘thing of value’ given to affect an election. There is no doubt that a foreign government’s search for damaging information about a candidate’s political opponent would be valuable to that candidate. As Special Counsel Mueller noted, ‘[a] foreign entity that engaged in such research and provided resulting information to a campaign could exert a greater effect on an election, and a greater tendency to ingratiate the donor to the candidate, than a gift of money or tangible things of value.’ By directly requesting or suggesting that President Zelensky use Ukraine’s resources to help his reelection efforts, Trump violated campaign finance law” (Fischer et al., 2019).
2.2.4. Trump hiding loans
2.2.4.1. “Trump campaign and Trump Make America Great Again Committee disguised nearly $170 million of campaign spending by laundering the funds through firms headed by Trump’s recent campaign manager, Brad Parscale, and/or created by Trump campaign lawyers: the firms serve as conduits that receive millions in payments from the campaign and disburse the funds to the campaign’s ultimate vendors, thereby concealing the campaign’s transactions with those vendors” (Campaign Legal, 2020).
2.2.4.2. seven weeks before the election, something else unusual happened. The Trump-Ruffin partnership borrowed $30 million from City National Bank in Los Angeles. Mr. Trump signed the loan documents in New York City, but tax records show that Mr. Ruffin personally guaranteed nearly the entire amount, should the company ever be unable to pay.” One explanation of what happened next is that the loan funded the partnership, the partnership gave Trump $21 million and then Trump used $10 million of that to pay his campaign in the final week of the election… Federal campaign finance law requires that federal candidates disclose bank loans used in connection with their campaigns. So if this loan was really for the Trump 2016 campaign, then there is a problem with the failure to report it properly by the campaign. If the money attributable to Ruffin (because of the loan guarantee) was really for the benefit of the Trump 2016 campaign, then it runs into a separate campaign finance problem of being far above the $5,400 limit for an individual donor at the time… if the payments were not legitimate, and were then directed to Trump’s campaign, they would likely be considered illegal campaign contributions. The partnership also reportedly took a tax deduction for the $21 million payout. As tax expert Daniel Shaviro told the Times, unless the payments were for actual business expenses, claiming a tax deduction for them would be illegal” (Torres-Spelliscy, 2020).
3. Players
3.1. Donald Trump
3.2. Joe Biden
3.2.1. The most obvious players were Donald Trump and Joe Biden. They are the figureheads for the entire campaign. Their policies, merits, values, personalities, and plans are the place where campaigns begin. They are the people whom all the other actors rally around; they are the starting point.
3.3. The Media
3.3.1. The news outlets, tv specials, newspaper articles, and social media platforms who play the messenger.
3.4. PACs/Super PACs
3.4.1. PACs, or Political Action Committees, are groups that can raise, spend, and donate unlimited amounts of money for a candidate or party. Super PACs, or Independent Expenditures Only Committees, are pretty similar to PACs, but they cannot donate directly to a party or candidate. They were created to get around laws regarding how campaigns raise and spend money that comes from big corporations. They are one of the main ways that campaigns get funding.
3.5. Citizens/Voters
3.6. Donors
3.6.1. Citizens, voters, individual donors, and volunteers are all alike. They involve regular people using their power and resources to decide whether or not to affect change. Citizens are the people in america. Voters are the people who vote in elections. Individual donors are the people who decide to donate to a candidate or party. Volunteers are the people who work to help their ideal candidate get elected. One can be a part of all of these groups at the same time.
3.7. Volunteers
4. Informal Rules
4.1. Avoiding conflicts of interest/separating from personal profitable business
4.1.1. Being president is a job that carries great responsibility. It is important for the president to understand and respect that, and sometimes that means giving up much of an old life. Presidents are expected to get rid of anything that may compromise their dedication to the country and democracy— in other words, conflicts of interest. Most of the time, this is a personal profit business, like resigning from a job as a chairman for a bank or president of a company. If the president is invested in a business, then they might make decisions that benefit their business over citizens.
4.2. Release of tax returns
4.2.1. This norm started with President Nixon. It is done just to show transparency and gain trust with the public. Since then, some presidents have committed to sharing all of their tax records.
4.3. Limiting false/misleading claims
4.3.1. All presidents have stretched the truth and exaggerated claims before, but it is a general expectation that the president will avoid obvious lies and misconduct.
4.4. Anti-racism/anti-sexism/pro-diversity
4.4.1. The majority of people in this country expect the president to be the president for all people in America, regardless of race or gender. It is expected that the president will work towards a country that values and includes all people. This means fight racism and sexism.
4.5. Respecting oversight
4.5.1. Most presidents have understood the need for checks and balances between and inside the branches of government. They comply or even encourage checks on their power.
4.6. Reaching voters through mainstream media
4.6.1. The set precedent for the president has been reaching voters through mainstream media, like television, newspapers, and radio.
4.7. Respecting science
4.7.1. Most presidents have pressure and expectation to at least publicly believe in science and listen to scientists while making decisions.
4.8. Maintaining relations with allies
4.8.1. We want to be on good terms with our allies. We want to have their backs, and for them to have ours. This means respecting, supporting, and communicating with them.
4.9. Follows the debate schedule
4.9.1. This is an informal and formal rule
5. Relationships between players
5.1. The individual to the campaign
5.1.1. They have an interactive and simultaneously equal and unequal dynamic. The campaign’s entire focus is on the individual. They lobby for votes by advertising, holding meetings and press conferences, and promising to give what the people want. In turn, the individual gives money to the campaign, they watch the ads, meetings, and rallies, and share what they want. The campaign takes the money, feedback, and statistics, and the process starts over.
5.2. The media to the campaign
5.2.1. Next, the media. The media plays messenger and gatekeeper. They ferry information from the campaign to the people, but also decide what information to share. Media is the platform that is used by the campaign to advertise, to collect information about voters, to disparage their opponents, and to televise speeches. The media decides how they want to be used by the campaign. The Trump campaign used Facebook to fundraise and advertise, and Facebook started reevaluating what kinds of disinformation isn’t okay. News shows decide what events and people to focus on, and how to spin the story. The media influences people. People decide what candidate to support based on what the media says the candidate values. The media is also influenced by the people. They want to get people watching, so they report on stories that people want to hear— usually the most outrageous, sensational ones. They pay attention to the public and deliver on their desires. They are held accountable to their misdeeds by other news outlets who report to the public.
5.3. Politicians to money
5.3.1. Politicians need money to run campaigns. This relationship connects politicians to PACs and Super PACs, politicians to volunteers and employees, politicians to individuals, and politicians to the media.
5.4. PACs/Super PACs to campaigns and individuals donating to campaigns
5.4.1. PACs and Super PACs use law loopholes to donate massive amounts of money to campaigns. Individuals donate money to politicians. Politicians use that money to fund their campaigns, which means paying their employees and buying buses, swag, and food for their volunteers. It also pays for all of their escapades with the media; ads, coverage, interviews and the like.