This past election season, a new campaign outreach strategy emerged. Podcast appearances — unprofessional and oftentimes comedic conversations with internet entertainers.
President-elect Donald Trump applied this new strategy the most by appearing on various shows with eclectic personalities. Theo Von, Joe Rogan, Lex Friedman and Andrew Schultz were among the more prominent ones.
Democrats, albeit to a lesser extent, also gave weight to this tactic. Before he dropped out of the race, President Joe Biden went on 360 with Speedy, and Kamala Harris went on The Call Her Daddy podcast, Club Shay Shay, Unlocking Us and Former NBA player Matt Barne’s show.
Trump’s appearances ended up being larger in scale and viewership, as his appearances on the 4 prominent shows all went over 6 million views, while Kamala Harris’ Club Shay Shay appearance was the only one of hers that went over 1 million views (1.6 million to be exact).
Mainstream media has attributed a large portion of Trump’s success to this new venture. While there were certainly greater causes that did the Democrats in, it can’t be denied that these appearances and content creation have played a role in the right-wing radicalization of many young viewers, particularly young men.
The first step to understanding why radicalization is occurring in these spaces is to analyze what the shared experience of young men has looked like in recent years.
Gen Z and millennials are faring worse than their parents in terms of social mobility. Millennial home ownership is lower than that of their predecessors. And while Gen Z saw an increase in home ownership following the post-pandemic boom, those gains are diminishing, and basic expenses are getting increasingly harder to pay. Both groups have also reaped the consequences of the declining share of corporate income workers have received.
Like most of the voters who showed up for Republicans in the election, young men on the internet have been susceptible to right-wing sentiment on the internet because of their distaste for the liberal leadership they’ve suffered under.
To them, the Republican Party at least offered a solution by blaming marginalized groups such as immigrants, instead of advocating for the same policies they’ve suffered under.
But the right-wing sentiment only explains half of the story. To truly explain why that radicalization can occur, you have to search for why these podcasts/content creators have gained a following in the first place.
This can be found in the bread-in-butter of the content. Much of the content young men consume on the internet is naturally reflected by what they are interested in. Fitness YouTubers, hustle culture TikTokers, live streamers who interview famous musicians and other similar creators draw in large male audiences who eventually grow attached and subscribe to the creator’s political beliefs.
They take the messaging at face value with no critical thinking attached because of this and because of their proclivity to right-wing, anti-marginalized group rhetoric.
Take the famous live streamer Adin Ross for example. In the early days of his career, young men flocked to his content because of his charisma and the plethora of famous rappers he’s had on his livestream. He’s maintained a strong viewer base and progressively pushed more and more right-wing ideas, eventually culminating in him platforming an open neo-nazi and interviewing President-elect Donald Trump.
Andrew Schultz is a similar case. The famous comedian garnered a strong following because of his strong skills on the mic, and while he isn’t anywhere near Ross’s level of conservatism, he proceeded to humanize Trump in front of that large audience.
This phenomenon has also occurred with those who’ve had no relationship with the former president. The Fresh and Fit podcast, a show predicated on dating, takes a misogynistic stance on relationships and one of the hosts has echoed blatant antisemitic talking points.
As a former kickboxer, World-famous personality Andrew Tate is a heavy fitness advocate. But when he’s not telling people to hit the weights, he’s spewing a misogynistic message and getting sent to jail for sex crimes.
The list goes on and on.
All forms of discourse are increasingly becoming internet-reliant. And its capacity to radicalize is becoming more of a realization for those in positions of power. Add that combined with the conservative tendencies of a good portion of these creators, and right-wing political gains, whether done electorally or not, could become increasingly more common in the Western world.
