Talk:October surprise

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Hunter Biden article isn't an October surprise

The GOP has been obsessed with Hunter Biden since late 2019. Anyone following U.S. politics could have predicted that Republicans would release "damaging" information related to Hunter Biden as an October Surprise. Is an event really an October surprise if it is so easily foreseen by pundits all year? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mazeprotection (talk • contribs) 20:07, 22 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

While yes, it has been obvious that Giuliani was pushing for dirt on Hunter Biden in the Ukraine for this purpose, we rely on what the sources say, and the sources do discuss the laptop as an attempt at an October surprise. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:24, 22 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't been following this story closely, but the conflict between Twitter and the New York Post may eventually be worth mentioning as an October surprise, as Trump's campaign is trying to use it and the more general issue of media censorship as one.^[1] With Greenwald's resignation from the Intercept,^[2] the issue has now clearly moved outside Trump's base, even while the Hunter Biden conspiracy theory itself is irrelevant. Really though it's too soon to say whether or not any of this story really ought to be regarded as an October surprise and we ought to wait until we see if the media or academia refer to any parts of it as October surprises because otherwise it's original research. --Bartholomite (talk) 21:41, 30 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I'm surprised that it isn't included, actually. An October "surprise" doesn't mean that it has to be completely unexpected (a literal surprise), the generally accepted definition as documented in this article is that it's got to be some news event which may influence an election, whether deliberately planned or spontaneously occurring. This event occurred very late in the election cycle, when October surprises occur; it was almost certainly deliberately planned by operatives such as Rudy Giuliani in the manner of traditional October surprises, and the intention was to shift voters in the 2020 election -- there's tons of commentary on it out there. It may not have been a particularly effective tactic -- as the original user pointed out, going after Hunter Biden was a move clearly telegraphed months if not years in advance -- but given the generally accepted view that Comey's letter re: Clinton's emails (which the Republican Party had been discussing for quite some time) was an October surprise, I see no reason to deny that characterization to the "we've got Hunter Biden's totally real laptops and/or emails and/or child porn" news story put out by Giuliani et al. RexSueciae (talk) 23:57, 5 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Torabi, Acyn (October 29, 2020). "Eric Trump claims his social media likes are being throttled and he thinks that's become the number one issue in politics over the past few weeks". Fox News via Twitter.
^ Greenwald, Glenn (October 29, 2020). "My Resignation From The Intercept".

Perhaps, Meadows revealed the Boss had relevant info in MAL safe? Wikipietime (talk) 18:22, 9 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Mar-a-Largo August 8 2022

Was the seizure a Trump plant of cooperative witness. Sources lacking credibility, presently. Wikipietime (talk) 18:20, 9 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

1980 "October surprise" section should be updated to include 2023 confirmation of the conspiracy.

The section on the 1980 Reagan efforts to keep the Iranians from releasing American hostages should be updated to note that the conspiracy was confirmed to be real by people who were involved in it, per https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html Rmd1023 (talk) 15:23, 31 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The NY Times article hardly confirms it. In fact, it raises a number of issues with the claims made. There has been a RFC on this on the October Surprise conspiracy theory talk page. Rja13ww33 (talk) 22:50, 31 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Clarifying criteria for adding examples

I removed the examples that were disputed instances of an October Surprise due to WP:Recentism and lack of consensus in reliable sources and wanted to start a discussion here on the inclusion criteria (guessing it isn't every surprising thing the might impact the race that occurs around October. This article gives a good overview of why I think we should approach this page by only adding examples with a near-consensus among reliable sources that the surprise is very significant to deciding who wins. Superb Owl (talk) 04:29, 14 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Following up on this, it is WP:OR/WP:SYNTH to simply add something to this page because it happened in October and it was surprising to you. Only what is termed an "October surprise" by RS belongs on this page. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:00, 31 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

John Kelly's comments about "Hitler's Generals"

Would the recent comments that John Kelly made about Trump wanting generals like Hitler's meet the criteria for an october surprise? I haven't found any news outlets that directly calls it one, but it seems like it would fit the bill.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-john-kelly-nazis-hitler-87d672e1ec1a6645808050fc60f6b8bc Spatuladoom (talk) 18:00, 23 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think we should only add those stories that are directly labeled October Surprises by multiple RSs. The article is now getting to the point where every story that breaks, somebody wants to add it (whether it is labeled that or not). To me, that goes against polices such as NOTNEWS.Rja13ww33 (talk) 20:48, 23 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I agree.--Jack Upland (talk) 00:10, 24 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Torabi, Acyn (October 29, 2020). "Eric Trump claims his social media likes are being throttled and he thinks that's become the number one issue in politics over the past few weeks". Fox News via Twitter.

[2] Greenwald, Glenn (October 29, 2020). "My Resignation From The Intercept".

[1]

[2]