“Good Luck America,” Snapchat’s first original show, came to South Carolina’s Upstate region on Aug. 28 to cover the Faith and Freedom BBQ, an annual event hosted by Congressman Jeff Duncan (R-SC).
The episode focused on President Donald Trump’s base in the Republican party and their loyalty to him over their representatives. Peter Hamby, the head of news at Snapchat and the host of “Good Luck America” emphasized Trump’s cult of personality in his Republican base.
“We want to look at how established Republicans are affected,” Hamby told The Tiger. “He’s become so popular. The Republican base is so rapidly in love with Donald Trump.”
As far as why Hamby and “Good Luck America” chose South Carolina specifically, Hamby referred to the festival itself as a “good place to take the temperature of conservative politics” and emphasized his own journalistic roots in the area.
“My first job for CNN was covering politics here. I focused on the Republican party for CNN. I’ve known [Governor] McMaster for 10 years,” Hamby said, adding that he was familiar with Congressman Duncan as well.
The move towards a more informative show might seem out of place compared to what Snapchat was just a few years ago, but Hamby seems happy with the direction the app is headed.
“Mobile storytelling on the phone,” he said, “seems to be the future. We have a lot of great shows on Snapchat. People in college are spending about 40 minutes a day on Snapchat. We really want to contextualize the news for college students, outside of television.”
“Good Luck America” is in its third season. This episode, the second of the season, premiered yesterday. Each episode is available for 48 hours. It can be found in the Discover-section of the Snapchat app.