Over the weekend, I went to DC to meet everyone Right-wing influencers And the content creators who made it President Donald Trump 2024 Winning is possible. She was everywhere.
The elections were 2024 Influential elections and The opening was no different: There were dozens of parties and parties before and after the inauguration this weekend, in addition to the big event itself. Theo Vaughn sat across from Jake and Logan Paul under the Capitol rotunda (well, Until the podcast chair collapsed). Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, and Brett Cooper walked the red carpet at Turning Point USA and took selfies with fans. Jessick Reed Krause, a writer for the HouseInhabit newsletter, had a great time with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Make America Healthy Again gala on Monday night.
In August it was published A guide to Republican and Democratic influencers Shaping the 2024 Election Influencers and content creators remain important, and will communicate and guide policy decisions for years to come.
Welcome to Trump 2.0, where these creators have the ears of not only their audience, but also the president. Here are some things to watch over the next four years.
Broadcasters and streamers
The 2024 election was a breakout course for podcasters in politics. Most of the offers went to Trump Meets the needs of the manospherea loose network of creators who promote misogynistic, racist, and pro-male ideology online. This includes people like Joe Rogan, Andrew Schulz and brothers Paul and Aden Rosswho shared their Trump interviews with millions upon millions of their fans. There is a second branch as well, consisting of creators who have described themselves as the intellectual wing of the modern Republican Party, e.g Ben Shapiro, Dave Rubin, and Lex Friedman. Friedman’s YouTube podcast reaches millions of viewers each week. Shapiro’s show is one of the most popular shows The ones on Spotify.
These broadcasters have helped amplify Trump and his agenda with little, if any, resistance. They are likely to play a key role in mobilizing support for the Trump administration’s decisions.
I spoke briefly with Shapiro Sunday night, asking him what comes next for the Republican Party and podcasting. “The force continues to grow,” he added. “Legacy media has completely blown itself away. We’re focused on expanding, not just our brand, but there are so many other brands that need to expand, and I think this is going to be a very rich time for the podcast industry.”
Meme pages
D.C. Draino, the archetypal liberal, the agitated Americans, and the tears of a snowflake are some of the biggest pro-MAGA meme pages on Instagram. Together, these accounts have more than 6 million followers. They serve as a conduit between the priorities of the GOP leadership and platforms like X and Instagram.
Think of their accounts as news aggregators for people who might not otherwise consume them.
Organizers
While Democrats worked with influencers during the last election cycle as well, no political action committee or campaign organized them as effectively and efficiently as the right. Because of Turning Point USA and its leader, Charlie Kirkmany of the Republican Party’s most popular content creators see each other at least a few times a year at the organization’s summits and training sessions. According to interviews with some senior right-wing organizers, this infrastructure will grow over the next four years. The organizers themselves have also become influencers to watch.
I wrote about it A moving party (and victory lap) was hosted during the opening weekend that was placed before C.J. Pearson and Raquel Debono. Pearson, a conservative content creator with more than 500,000 X followers, co-chairs the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Council. He has played a key role in the party’s adoption of influencers and is planning additional trainings with organizations such as the Heritage Foundation.
