The Splintering MAGA Media Rage Machine

[00:20] Welcome to Pod Save America, I'm Tommy Vitor. As we speak, the MAGA media world is fracturing, and many of its leading voices are desperately [00:30] what a post-Trump NAGA movement will mean for them. For some, this is about business. They want to know if they can maintain the same level of clicks, of ad sales, of paid promotion deals in a post-Trump political world. But for others, it's about influence and a desire to steer the Republican Party to a new place, in some cases, a much more extreme place. What we're talking about is ultimately a battle for the soul and attention of the NAGA movement, and it's being fought as [01:00] often on shows or on platforms that most Democrats have never heard of, but have enormous reach and influence in conservative circles, especially younger conservative circles. So to help me understand and track where the NAGA movement is going, I'm joined today by Will Sommer from The Bulwark. Will's newsletter, False Flag, is a twice weekly deep dive into right wing online culture and the communities around it. And it is a must read for me every week. [01:30] the weird, petty, pathetic infighting between them. It is fascinating stuff. Now, unfortunately for all of us, right-wing media is incredibly popular, which is why we here at Crooked Media are trying to create a progressive alternative. The best way you can help us is to become a Friend of the Pod subscriber. For about 10 bucks a month, you get bonus episodes of Pod Save America. You get ad-free episodes. You get deep dives into the latest polling data from Dan Pfeiffer and tons more bonus content. And you also can get discounted tickets to our upcoming CrookedCon conference

[02:00] perks. So check that out. Go to crooked.com slash friends to learn more. And now here's my conversation with Will Sommer. [02:12] So, Will, your co-worker, Sarah Longwell, got a bunch of grief recently for saying that a surprising name keeps coming up in her focus groups when she's asking people who they think should run for president, Candace Owen. And again, this is not people saying that they like Candace's content. It's voters saying they would vote for Candace Owens for president. Now, I'm sure people listening to this are thinking, like, shut up, Tommy. That is dumb. This is insane. [02:37] So bonkers into them. I say, sure, I agree with you. But I think the point is that a lot of people don't. So just to start with the basics, who is Candace Owens and why do you think she is so popular and influential to the point where people want to run for president? [02:53] Sure. So Candace Owens is a woman who emerged. She's from sort of the right wing media ecosystem that kind of these classic characters working for people like Dennis Prager and Ben Shapiro. And then for the past year or so, past two years, she's become this sort of insurgent right wing conspiracy theorist, very anti-Semitic. [03:23] YouTube empire off of both conspiracy theories and also sort of more mainstream celebrity gossip coverage. And so I think she's managed to really sort of diversify her audience beyond just sort of people who listen to talk radio or watch Fox News. Yeah. I mean, so Candace's biggest or at least sort of like splashiest most recent interview was a surprising one. It was with Hunter Biden, of all people. Before that, like you said, she spent months and months and months just relentlessly

[03:53] all shapes and sizes, like planes were tracking Charlie, that there was like a false flag operation. She seemed to suggest that Erica Kirk, Charlie Kirk's wife, might have been the killer. And then before that, there was this endless series of videos she did alleging that French President Emmanuel Macron's wife is, in fact, a man. So just for folks who haven't listened to Candace much, like here's a clip of Candace on Piers Morgan's show that I think will give you a sense of the vibe that comes out of a lot of our content. Let's watch. [04:23] that we don't know why we ask questions. You're a journalist. You know what this is. You're like, what's going on? What's going on? Why do you want to know why these planes were tracking Charlie? And that is the reason why people are watching my shows. I'm the only one not treating them like they're absolute idiots. Who don't have two eyes. Who believe in magic bully theories. And who understand that Egyptian planes should not have been tracking Charlie even three times this year would be an anomaly. They've been tracking him. We don't know where it's going to end. But we are going to keep asking questions until we get clear answers. [04:53] So she was yelling about Egyptian planes tracking Charlie Kirk. I mean, like, what is her beat? You mentioned, I mean, she has like celebrity stuff, she has pop culture stuff, but is her beat just conspiracy? Like, how would you define it?

[05:23] I mean, you mentioned Brigitte Macron. It's not just that Brigitte Macron is trans, but it's that like the Macron's are part of this ancient Jewish network going back to the Middle Ages. Is that the Frankis? The Frankis. Yes, exactly. Too deep in this shit. Yes. I mean, even if you listen to it, it often like I can get this sense of it can be kind of hard to describe because in part because it's just you listen to it and it's like so crazy. And she kind of she doesn't really bother to like make a coherent theory per se. [05:53] She goes, oh, isn't that weird? Isn't that weird? And then suddenly you find yourself that she's walked you to Erica Kirk, murder her husband or Brigitte McCrone is trans. And she often will sort of abandon things as they're disproven. So like she'll say, I think that guy in the crowd at the assassination is acting weird. And that guy will have an excuse. And she'll say, oh, well, never mind, you know, moving on, you know. [06:23] Yeah, I mean, like when I listen to Candace's stuff, I find myself getting lost in the sauce and not able to follow her. And we're like down all these conspiracy roads. But the reason I led with her and her in our next subject, Hucker Carlson, is because the normies in my life who text me about politics mentioned those two the most.

[06:53] It was an incredibly influential media, political kind of voter turnout organization. But now she seems to have done some damage to it. Or I guess that's the question. I mean, how much damage do you think Candace has done to TPUSA through this kind of ongoing fighting? Yeah, I mean, I think Candace and sort of the conspiracy theorists around her have actually done a lot of damage to Turning Point. I mean, they have created this sense of, you know, after the Charlie Kirk assassination, there was a lot of goodwill towards Turning Point. [07:23] Trump and that organization we're going to capitalize on after the murder. But instead, Candace has said, well, maybe Erica Kirk killed her husband. Maybe this organization, you know, she's picked out all these individual executives. Maybe they were involved in these murders. And I think, you know, anecdotally, if you look at groups of conservative moms, they'll say, oh, well, we were going to order some Turning Point shirts, but now we don't want to be associated with them. Stuff like that. I mean, I think it's been at best for Turning Point, a big distraction. I think it's been a lot more damaging. [07:53] Candace actually has political ambitions? Because it seems like she kind of flirted with maybe running for office in some of her answers. But I don't know, maybe that's just a way to keep yourself in the news. You know, it's a good question. I don't think it's hard for me to imagine her running just because I think she has such a good thing going right now. I mean, she's making so much money. She's making, you know, tens of thousands of dollars per video. She's putting out four or five videos a week. I mean, you know, I think she has far more influence

[08:23] to Trump and asked him to have Candace cut these things off. I mean, that shows you sort of the influence that she enjoys. So I think she could run for office if she wanted. But I think right now, I think she'd be foolish to do it. I think she's happy right where she is. Until the French clean her out in this libel lawsuit. Yes. And now some turning, you know, at least one turning point person is suing her. I think there's more to come. You know, her husband is this mega wealthy British guy. So they may be able to weather that. But I think ultimately, these lawsuits, you know, just as Alex Jones was able to avoid [08:53] until he couldn't. I think she could face the same issue. Yeah, not fun. Okay, let's turn to another sort of heavyweight in this fight for the future of MAGA, which is Tucker Carlson. So Tucker's career arc is fascinating to me. He was widely viewed as one of the best magazine writers of his generation. Then he bumped along in various TV jobs for a while, including stints at CNN and MSNBC. Those sort of eventually ended or failed in some way. Then he got picked up at Fox and was kind of like a weekend journeyman until he got on the Trump train early and then [09:23] relationship, you know, I don't know, just focus into the highest rated show in the history of cable news before he was suddenly fired in 2023. And then after getting fired, Tucker started his own news network and show. He currently has about 5.6 million YouTube subscribers, which is more than his old show in terms of the aggregate ratings. So do with that information what you will. Obviously, not all of those people are watching every episode, but it's a lot.

[09:53] in U.S. policy towards Israel. But a lot of the critiques were at times very harsh [09:58] I'm very personal. So, you know, Will, in your opinion, where does Tucker rank in terms of kind of influence in this media world we're talking about today? Is he is he number one? [10:28] in the White House, he's still seen as enough of a mainstream conservative figure to appear at Turning Point USA conventions, for example. But on the other hand, he has this kind of growing credibility with the anti-MAGA right, what might call themselves the America First movement, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Fuentes, Candace. And so I think he's sort of uniquely able there to mainstream these really hateful and toxic ideas, like having Nick Fuentes on his show for a very nice sit-down interview, while [10:58] and getting support from them. So in that way, I think he's very powerful. And as you said, he also has a massive audience just on his own. Yeah. So let's watch a recent clip of the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Dannen, talking about a phone call he got from Tucker Carlson. Then I'll ask you a question about it. He told me, Ambassador... [11:18] Can you please take me off the list? [11:21] And I was shocked. I told him, what are you talking about?

[11:24] You told me I'm being attacked by... [11:26] by the Jews [11:28] So maybe you have like a list. Can you take me off the list? [11:32] So I waited for a minute and I told him, Mr. Carlson, [11:36] We don't have a list. [11:37] You are being attacked because you're spreading lies. It's an interesting phone call there. So of all the people we'll discuss today, Tucker seems to be among the most interested in in shaping policy or at least the Republican Party's policy views, especially U.S. policy towards Israel. He's been a fierce critic of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. He's been a fierce critic of the war in Iran, of U.S. policy towards Israel generally. [12:07] troubling language. Do you think that his general motive is policy focused or is this political? Is this like kind of Tucker knows where the puck is going and he's skating there by becoming more isolationist? I think throughout his career, I mean, you mentioned these kind of different changes he's done, whether it's like a writer at the Weekly Standard or now within Fox News or now this. I think he's a guy who is very interested. Maybe it's a mix. I think he's trying to stay [12:37] war are going to be unpopular with Republicans and only get more so as the years goes on. So he's trying to avoid associating himself with that. But I think also being fired from Fox News really sort of radicalized him and sort of caused him to seek out these more extreme politics where he could sort of stake out his own position in a way that wouldn't just look like another Fox News type person. Do you think, I mean, a lot of people worry or wonder if he is setting himself up for a run for president. And I can make a pretty compelling case for it. I mean, he's a huge

[13:07] probably universal name ID in the Republican Party. He has, [13:12] I think carved out this interesting lane to I don't know how how big the lane is, but there is an isolationist lane in the Republican Party. Right. And Trump, you know, was courting them and then went back on everything he told them in the campaign when he went to war with Iran. Do you view what Tucker's doing is some sort of like political setup? [13:31] I think it's very possible that he could run for president or some other office. I mean, I think if we look in 2028, the lane for someone who opposed the war, who's kind of a more populist figure, is pretty open. You know, J.D. Vance, I think, is going to be damaged both by his association with the Trump administration, but also by associations with people like Peter Thiel, all these kind of tech oligarchs. And so I think if you have someone like Tucker Carlson who could say, oh, I hate AI data [14:01] He says, you know, I just want to have, you know, grow my family and, you know, you know, go back to the traditional American ways. I think that would appeal to some people. I mean, I think it would be a risk for him to run because potentially he would kind of get crushed like a bug somehow and then, you know, lose his audience. But I think more so than Candace or someone else, other media figures, I think he's the one I see most likely is potentially running. It's fascinating because so many people run for president knowing they're going to lose, but they know they'll hand them a giant megaphone. And like Tucker has a giant megaphone. [14:31] like you were saying with Candace earlier, like would getting in politics benefit or hurt them because they're such heavyweights already? It's just not obvious. Yeah, I agree. And, you know, he might also throw himself behind, gosh, like maybe Joe Kent, the counterterror chief who resigned. I mean, it seems like someone who's potentially setting up a run for office. So I think on the other hand, you know, he was very supportive of J.D. Vance, only to see that kind of fizzle out and J.D. Vance to support the war. So I could see maybe if he's like, you know, I got to get this done myself. Yeah. So, well, before we keep going,

[15:01] ask, how the hell did you get on this beat? Because we've spoken a bunch of times. I have a whole bucket of questions coming up about the kind of Nazi-adjacent media space. You end up having to consume all that content. You have to learn about all these terrible people. How did you get into this focus? So I was a sort of young teen Republican in Texas, and I just had a huge, I consumed a lot of conservative media, talk radio and Fox News and all this. And then during the second of the George W. Bush administration, my politics changed. I thought it was just awful. [15:31] He did such a bad job. But I still was like, you know, I still had such a passion for right wing media. And then, you know, a couple of years went by and then I was following figures like Ben Shapiro, whose whole thing was that he was a virgin at the time. And, you know, it wasn't that novel. It was all these characters. And then in 2016, I was at a party and people were like, have you heard about Laura Loomer and Milo Yuanopoulos? I thought, oh, my gosh, people are finally interested in these people. And so I started writing about them. So you were like, I'm just going to make this my thing and focus on these folks. Yeah. [16:01] I mean, there's really sort of an endless well of bizarre stories about them. Well, sometimes I'll be I'll find myself sitting in bed with headphones in not speaking to my wife at 10 p.m. because I'm streaming something horrible. And I wonder what it's doing to my mental health. Does it does it impact yours? Are you able to divorce the two? No, that's a good question. I think I just have a really high tolerance. I really enjoy the the twists and the turns, you know, whether it's kind of the personalities or the appearance of a new idea or ideology.

[16:31] You know, I do a lot while I'm cooking for my kids. And so I run through these videos and my wife will come down and see, you know, five people hunched over a computer, you know, broadcasting something. And she'll say, you know, that certainly looks like something you'd be watching. Speaking of great replacements, we're going to do onions instead of scallions in this. Yes. That would be, honey. [16:54] Yeah. [16:56] Positive America is brought to you by Sleep Me. [16:58] When was the last time you went to bed before midnight without your phone beeping blue light at your weary little eyes? A while. [17:04] It's been a minute. [17:05] Nothing pairs worse with trying to fall asleep than having a full breakdown of the latest news cycle running on loop in your head. That's absolutely true. But here's the thing. You're tired because the news is exhausting, but you're also tired because your body didn't recover from the day. The good news is you can do something about it, and it's simpler than you think. You can lower your bed temperature. Enter ChiliPad 2.0, the water-based mattress topper that actively controls your bed temperature from 55 to 115 degrees all night long. You can sous vide yourself if you like. No new mattress, no renovation. It fits over what you already have. [17:35] rock. It's awesome. I can set my temperature different than the temperature Ari sets their temperature to. You can make your bed warm when you're cold. You can make your bed cold when you're hot. Because a lot of people battle with their significant other about the temperature in the room. And during the day, it's okay. At night, this is an existential war for your sleep. Yes. Some people like to sleep cold. Some people like to sleep hot. And so, and by the way, like you can, you know, rather than make the room really cold, you can keep the room at like a normal temperature

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[19:46] marshmallow, chocolate peanut butter, double chocolate, and more. Wait, they've introduced chocolate peanut butter? That's new. I love chocolate peanut butter. That's new because I was always mixing them together myself. It's one of the best. Now they do it for you. That's beautiful. Come on. There's the nostalgia. There's the dessert-coated feeling, but without loading up on sugar. These taste delicious. [20:05] They're also pretty healthy for you. And, you know, if you're already a Magic Spoon cereal fan, you're going to love these suckers. Magic Spoon is easy to find. Just look for Magic Spoon at your local grocery store. And they just rolled out treats nationwide at 7-Eleven. And if you haven't tried them yet, check out Magic Spoon's new protein pastries, a high-protein, low-sugar take on the classic toaster pastries you grew up with. You can get $5 off your next order, including protein pastries, at magicspoon.com slash crooked. [20:35] five bucks off going right now. [20:40] Let's get to the Megyn Kelly. Megyn Kelly, I kind of slot in with Tucker in a bucket because I feel like they're friends, they're aligned, they talk to each other on their shows. But she has also broken with Trump in some notable ways recently. It started again with Iran and Israel. But now more recently, Megyn's been criticizing Trump for like infidelity, which surprised me. What do you make of Megyn's kind of rapid pivot into Trump critic? Is this a business decision? [21:08] Policy, some combo. You know, I would say Megyn Kelly is much more mercenary even than Tucker Carlson is. I think she is someone who, you know, they're very similar in some ways. They both came out of Fox News and these kind of more –

[21:19] such as it is moderate, more traditional conservative environments. But I think she is really seeing the way the wind is blowing. And she, number one, doesn't want to get targeted by figures like Candace Owens or Nick Fuentes, because I think she sees them correctly as much more dynamic and much more able to make people look like dinosaurs in the way that Ben Shapiro or Mark Levin have kind of been sidelined. And so I think she really wants to stay out of their way. She's also, I think, is trying to ride this wave of discontent with Trump. And look, [21:49] approval, I'm sure she wouldn't be saying, you know, shut up with the tweets and stop threatening to destroy Iranian civilization. But I think right now she's recognizing where the wind is blowing and trying to stay on the right side of things. Yeah. You mentioned the Daily Wire. There's been a lot of coverage lately of the decline of the Daily Wire and in particular, the decline in viewership for America's favorite virgin podcast host, Ben Shapiro. Last week, last month, sorry, [22:19] producer and host named Mike Richard. So I think his claim to fame is almost becoming the host of Jeopardy before you have to, until some like old quotes from a podcast he did resurfaced that were offensive and got him, uh, bounced. Um, Ben Shapiro has reportedly lost at least 80,000 YouTube followers this year alone, which is, you know, that's remarkable. Um, how real do you think these issues are for the daily wire? Um, and to what do you attribute their decline?

[22:49] let's say two challenges they're facing. I mean, it's striking because just a few years ago, Jeremy Boring, who was the co-founder of The Daily Wire, really kind of became the face of the company for a while as Ben Shapiro sort of receded. He was being profiled as like the new Hollywood mogul in Nashville, where they're based. He was going to change the face of entertainment. They built out all these streaming shows. They built out a Game of Thrones knockoff that was like his passion project for, it was like several million dollars per episode. It went way over budget. The Pendragon cycle. [23:19] $20 over budget. Yes, it's about King Arthur. He doesn't show up in the first season, but they felt really confident that there would be more. It was all about Merlin. And so this was a dream of his that he had had since college to make this show. I mean, it looks great, but very expensive. They made a Bluey knockoff starring chinchillas to win over kids to conservatism. So they had all these side projects, and that cost them enormous amounts of money. So he got booted last year essentially over these cost overruns. [23:49] Yeah. [23:58] I think the bigger problem they're facing is that, you know, the kind of politics that Ben Shapiro wants to promote, which is sort of this like anti anti Trump. He's like, you know, a little cautious about Trump. He's not a hardcore Trump guy like Sean Hannity. On the other hand, he agrees with things like the war in Iran. He's very pro Israel. And I think both of those that he's kind of wedged here between he can't go anti Trump, but he also like doesn't love Trump all that much. So he's kind of trapped. And I think that.

[24:25] point of view is just not that popular right now on the right. And then it's losing an audience. [24:30] Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. You read these reports and there are these amazing financial challenges like you mentioned. I mean, like I can't get enough of the stories about the Pendragon cycle and just like the reality that so many of these guys are just theater kids who didn't quite make it and who are trying to revamp their theater kidness in the conservative world. But the Daily Wire reportedly had two hundred million dollars in annual revenue in like 2024. [25:00] like how it compared to us, you know, their subscriber count. And then just something seems to like fallen off a cliff. And I don't know what it is. But I mean, I think Ben Shapiro lives in Florida, but the company is in Nashville. Maybe there's just sort of like a lack of business alignment as well as sort of like ideological and content misalignment with the party that you mentioned there. Yeah, I mean, I think Puck had some reporting on how basically the guy who followed Jeremy Boring was also seen as kind of bumbling around. There's been a lot of internal [25:30] But I think what we're looking at is that The Daily Wire will probably retrench as something more like The Daily Call or like Steven Crowder. I mean, speaking of like failed theater kids, like it'll be a thing with a popular podcast and a couple other popular podcasts, but not like this kind of what they were going for, which was sort of like a conservative entertainment giant. Yeah, they want to replace like a major studio in Hollywood with this conservative thing. And I just wonder, like, is that even doable?

[26:00] like maybe the verdict is not quite yet, or at least TBD. Yeah, I think that's what they're looking at. I mean, they were, you know, this was the idea is like, well, I subscribe to Netflix, Disney Plus, and you know, my kids love the chinchilla show. So I got to subscribe to the Daily Wire. Catch every episode of the Pentagon cycle. Okay, so again, tell me if you disagree, but I kind of mentally slot the free press into a similar bucket or basket as the Daily Wire. Now, it's less ideologically overt. [26:30] slant and admission. So the Free Press, as folks probably know, was bought by Paramount for $150 million. Must be nice. Barry Weiss, the founder of the Free Press, was named editor-in-chief of CBS News. That part of the kind of project is not going great. We've all been reading this week, you and I are talking on Wednesday, June 3rd, about a horrible meeting with the new 60 Minutes [27:00] and was later fired, which makes me wonder how that show is going to even keep going. But that's neither here nor there. But, you know, we're reading a lot about CBS and not a lot about the free press. Like, what is happening over there? I feel like they've kind of disappeared. Like, I just don't see their stuff anymore. Yeah, I mean, I think the free press is trying to, similar to The Daily Wire in some ways, become kind of like a lifestyle thing. They're launching these events. They're going to have free press meetups in their town.

[27:30] Paradox thinkers, maybe datum, whatever. You know, they're trying to branch out in these various ways. But I agree with you. I think the free press is kind of facing this drift as Barry Weiss focuses on who she's going to fire at 60 minutes or what have you. [27:45] Also, I mean, you know, it's also worth noting. I mean, like they had a crazy high turnover of people. I mean, they brought in kind of other prominent people like Chuck Lane from The Washington Post. People may remember from the movie Shattered Glass. Michael Moynihan, who's kind of like a podcast personality. Andy Mills, who founded The Daily at The New York Times. And they just these people just quit like really quickly, suggesting, by the way, sort of a foreshadowing of what 60 Minutes and CBS News, how they're run now. So I think there is some amount of trouble there. [28:15] Barry Weiss figure who's a bit alarming in her demeanor. [28:20] I just don't find her – I don't know if people have a huge care of social – [28:30] taking video during the shooting attempt at the White House Correspondents' Dinner when there was an assassin. Everyone calls it an assassination attempt. The individual got nowhere near Donald Trump. But there was a reporter who videoed sort of like the aftermath of it, but had the camera turned on herself the entire time and got a lot of grief for it in the media. That's Olivia Reingold. Yeah, and, you know, I mean, to get into like a larger structural issue I think they're facing and sort of these other figures,

[29:00] content. As obviously Donald Trump is in charge, I think a lot of these companies have sort of retreated from things like, you know, from like woke entertainment such as it is. So you on the upscale end, you have something like the free press, which is going to have all these kind of cancel professors. On the lower end, you have people like Tim Pool or the quartering on YouTube who are going to say, I can't believe they have a black Disney princess or what have you. But all of those guys have said, you know, my traffic's going down, my views are down because we and [29:30] wokeness to get outraged about. Yeah, there's less to be outraged about. It always struck me, though, that the free press... [29:37] had an impressive elite audience. There's smart, professional, thoughtful people I know here in LA who consume a lot of free press content. Is it Barry or Bari? I don't know if I'm saying it right. [29:56] build relationships with charm, otherwise, you know, get investment from billionaires or, you know, elites like the Ellison family. But was that the secret sauce of the free press only or just like that kind of elite audience and maybe not the mass market appeal that they need? I think Barry Wise has had a lot of success kind of having these what appears to be like a relatively like straightforward, often admirable ideology of like free speech and, you know, all this stuff,

[30:26] I think we can see this elsewhere in right-wing media is sort of like respect rich people ideology or like rich people should get to do whatever they want. And obviously that's very flattering to the tech oligarchs, to people like the – all these kind of – certainly Elon Musk, people like that. And so I think that's why she was so successful in the L.A. cocktail party circuit. And it's sort of similar to the Spencer Pratt thing. I mean different flavors of it, but this idea of like we got to clean up the streets. [30:56] I think that has obviously served her very well and I think got her that $150 million purchase. Yeah, a lot of it is just like I find the people you find annoying, annoying too. I'm going to make fun of them on my website, so subscribe to me. Yeah, I'm going to validate you for these opinions you might otherwise be uncomfortable having. Yeah, exactly. All right, now I'm going to ask you about the kind of darker, more extreme fringe, the people I worry about you listening to as you're making your kids mac and cheese. [31:26] racist, misogynistic, Holocaust denying streamer, podcast host, whatever you want to call him. His content really exploded, at least in my feeds in recent months, especially after his interview with Tucker Carlson. But also his episodes get clipped and shared everywhere. And if you kind of like make the wrong moves on the Twitter algorithm, all of a sudden they're getting force fed down your throat. Then there's figures like Chud the Builder, which I'd love to

[31:56] figure who would literally run around screaming racial slurs in an effort to bait black people into fights. And that story ended exactly how you'd expect it would end with him getting arrested for shooting someone in one of those fights. So can you tell us about those two individuals and to any other big voices in this extremist fringe that you keep an eye on? Yeah, so this kind of fits into sort of the Gen Z streamer community. You know, Nick Fuentes being the most prominent [32:26] He has a sort of unique demeanor among racists, which is like he's a little fae. He's like a kind of a little guy. And so he appeals in sort of a strange way, you know, to the extent that I think he has had sort of a Candace Owens like breakout into the broader Internet where people will, you know, play his audios and, you know, over their tick tocks or what have you. [32:56] goes around, says the N word. And then when, you know, black person says, Hey, what are you doing? He says, you know, step to me and I'll shoot you. And ultimately not only did he shoot someone, but he also doofus ended up shooting himself. Did shoot himself. So yeah. So now he's on trial for attempted murder. And so even more broadly, we can look around to people like whether it's clavicular, the guy who's trying to look so handsome or these like dating podcasts where

[33:26] And, you know, they go, oh, my God, that's not trad. You know, and these things just kind of like whipping up hate against women or minorities. And it's all kind of united around. A lot of it gets clipped, as you said, into these like these one, two minute segments that get a lot of social media traction. And to your point about the clipping, I mean, it can feel really hard to understand if these shows are actually big and influential or if I just see them because Twitter knows that I clicked on a bunch of Fuentes clips at one point. [33:56] constantly serving me more of them. Do you have a sense of the aggregate [34:01] influence of this world? You know, it's interesting. I think, you know, we can have, there are a couple metrics. And as you said, it can be challenging, right? Because on one hand, we've seen these articles that say, you know, clipping, it's making it all fake. You know, there's none of this is real. None of these people are popular. But, you know, as Taylor Lorenz has pointed out, I mean, someone like Clavicular was popular before he came to the attention of people like you and me. He's popular at kind of like a Gen Z, here's this handsome [34:31] this fake thing, then everyone would do it. We would have 100,000 curriculars, right? Heaven forbid. But these are... [34:39] It is a challenging world. And for me, it's often when it kind of spills over into the real world. So when Clavicular is out walking around and all these people are going, oh, my God, it's Clavicular. Well, clearly there's some amount of fan base there. Or when Chud the Builder, unfortunately, raises $300,000 after shooting a guy. I mean, clearly there's some amount of genuine support. Another side. So for us at Crooked, I mean, when I think about the technology and the platforms we focus on, it's like the standard podcast app from Apple. It's YouTube. It's huge for us, especially in terms of growth.

[35:09] And then obviously we try to clip and share our stuff, too, on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. Obviously, the conservatives use a lot of these same sites as well. But they're also they use platforms that I feel like Democrats just don't really live on, like Rumble, Kik. Twitch is a little more, you know, broadly used. What are the biggest platforms you think for this sort of conservative mega media world and how important are they to the growth of these spaces? [35:39] Twitch, the people who were kicked off of Twitch went to Kick. And it's sort of a like, it's basically funded all by like gambling ads because they couldn't have those on Twitch. So that's like the very unsavory people on Kick. And that's someone like Clavicular, for example. And then if you get kicked off of Kick, you end up where Chud the Builder ended up, which is like, God, something called like brainpill.info or something along those lines. I've never even heard of that. No, I mean, yeah, it's these like, I think I'm angling the name, but it's these like really like, [36:09] the internet. Now, it can all still get clipped and end up on Twitter. And especially as we've seen the mainstream social media platforms sort of pull back from moderating and really go hands off. I mean, a lot of it still happens on places like YouTube and X. And, you know, as you mentioned, Rumble, which is sort of the right wing YouTube alternative, which just hosted, you know, was the main sponsor for the steroid games that were held recently. I mean, so that's kind of the world they're operating in. Yeah. The enhanced games were they in Las Vegas? Yes. I, you know,

[36:39] was sharing the picture of that one swimmer who looked like he had been inflated, you know, with a with a hose. But then I don't think they broke any records. Right. I mean, you had some natural athletes just smoking the steroid guys. Yeah, I watched it. You know, in a way, it wasn't as like as sinister as I hoped. I mean, they tried to make it just look like the Olympics. But yeah, ultimately, really, the guys, you know, I think with especially things like weightlifting, these guys are on so many drugs anyway that, you know, it's kind of same same. And also, [37:09] by the guy, Brian Johnson, who's like trying to maximalize his longevity. But in practice, that means, I guess, tweeting out things, observations about his girlfriend's vaginal biome was one of them. Yeah, he's a disturbing fellow. And, you know, he appeared with an umbrella so that he wouldn't get any natural sunlight. How does that space overlap with conservative media? Or does it? Am I wrong? I mean, I think there is some overlap. I mean, certainly someone like Brian Johnson is trying to live forever. I mean, he's like a tech guy, [37:39] guy. You have these guys who are like trying to, you know, someone like clavicular, similarly as Brian Johnson's trying to live forever, clavicular is like trying to, you know, be as handsome as he can be. And so I think this idea, particularly among young people of like, you know, optimizing and having this kind of very clavicular represents kind of like a very nihilistic view of the world where it's like, if you aren't in the like 0.1%, you know, women are, they call it hypergamy.

[38:09] 10 lovers, you know, at the same time, and everyone else will be will be an incel. And so, you know, then your life is over, essentially. And so you have to compete in these really intense ways. I think we see that reflected a lot in this kind of really intense like Silicon Valley culture. Yeah, there's a very weird culture. I mean, it's always interesting to me to kind of identify points where the Venn diagrams overlap, right? Because I think Maha, the make America healthy again agenda, really did bring in a big community of people to the Trump orbit that might not [38:39] ever voted for a Republican, right? I mean, a lot of it was like, you know, out here in LA, it's like West Side moms who were, you know, sort of like anti-vax in some way kind of got drawn into the Maha movement during COVID and ended up voting Trump. And it's interesting, like, sort of like the longevity lifestyle health space can get, you know, coded conservative if Democrats are not talking to those people or communicating an alternative message. I mean, there's a huge overlap between all these different groups. So, you know, for example, [39:09] a look at Candace Owens, who got really into Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni stuff. And so she drew in a lot of people who didn't care about conservative politics, but it was kind of these like conservative coded, like blame the woman kind of anti me too type stuff. And they start, you know, combing through the court documents and then, oh, you want to comb through something else? Let's go through Brigitte McCrone's high school yearbooks or whatever. Or, you know, like the world of like meme stocks where people, oh, I lost all my money on Bed Bath and Beyond.

[39:39] intelligence chief or our director of national intelligence. And then, you know, then they get into QAnon. They get into other conspiracy theories because they feel that they've been wronged. Extraordinary video going around the Internet this week of Bill Pulte at a conference where he is trying to promote the bed, bath and beyond stock. And the speaker before him slaps another man in the face with a with a dildo. And then Pulte himself gets presented with a dildo. So, I mean, this is the trophy, I think, when it said Bill Pulte fucks only the young, [40:09] was the joke, I guess? Yeah, he loves the Taylor Swift song, Only the Young. I've unfortunately, but you know, it's certainly regrettable phrasing. It is. Oh, yeah, very regrettable phrasing. This week alone, you got Bill Pulte talking about Only the Young and then Ivanka talking about buying an island. It was not a good week for moving on from the Jeffrey Epstein dialogue for the Trump administration. [40:35] So [40:37] Pod Save America is brought to you by Mint Mobile. When people hear that Mint Mobile plans are only $15 per month, they may wonder, what's the catch? Well, there isn't one. Neither gimmick nor gotcha. Just unlimited talk, text, and data on the nation's largest, most reliable 5G network backed by their award-winning care team. You know, Mint's great. You know, you switch to Mint, you pay less, you still have the phone, still can be glued to that thing, let it ruin your life, but for less money. [40:57] You know, that's the beauty of it. Mint Mobile took what's wrong with the wireless and made it right with premium wireless for $15 a month. You can even bring your current phone and your number, choose from three, six or 12 month plans and say goodbye to a monthly bill. Ditch overpriced wireless with Mint Mobile. It's so easy. Sign up online and get three months of premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. You can have Mint Mobile. You never need to look at a person in the eyes again. Let this phone consume you. Never be anywhere but in your phone. Anywhere you go, you are in your phone. That is the place you live now. You go to a beautiful restaurant. No, the phone's there too. So you're in your phone.

[41:27] to. You're never alone. [41:29] with Mint Mobile. [41:31] To get a new wireless plan for just $15 a month, go to MintMobile.com slash Crooked. That's MintMobile.com slash Crooked. Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month at MintMobile.com slash Crooked. There is no catch. $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. [41:54] Here, you're free to slow down, free to splash into crystal clear springs, feel Florida sunshine, and spend the day outside. Here, you're free to explore trails full of history, on foot or riding horseback, and watch for a bald eagle gliding overhead. This is Ocala Marion County, Florida, where wide open spaces, timeless landscapes, and the American spirit come naturally. So go ahead, find your freedom here at OcalaMarion.com. [42:25] Okay, let's talk about the kind of manosphere world such as it is. You've mentioned clavicular a few times. You're right, he's been around for a while, but I think he exploded... [42:40] onto the national scene a few months back and taught us all about looks maxing and this weird lingo he has and hitting his face with hammers. Um, and he also infamously went to a club in Miami with Nick Fuentes. We talked about earlier, the kind of neo-Nazi, uh, content creator, and then a truly awful guy named Andrew Tate, um, who was charged with, what is it? Human trafficking and rape, human trafficking, all kinds of stuff. Yeah. It's a genuinely awful human being who, by the way, was just in Russia with Candace Owens for some reason. We can talk

[43:10] about that if you want, and a streamer named Sneeko. They all sang along to Kanye West's song, Heil Hitler filmed it, chucked it on the internet. Are those folks, Clavicular, Andrew Tate, Sneeko, are they talking about politics these days? How do you think about them and their influence in this kind of media world? You know, it's interesting. I feel like each of them has sort of a bespoke ideology all their own. You know, someone like Clavicular famously said that, [43:40] is too fat and he's going to vote for Gavin Newsom as a result because Gavin Newsom is just more handsome. You have these figures that almost exist in sort of a right wing realm beyond any, even like Trumpian politics where, for example, clavicular representatives will always say, oh, he's not right wing. He likes Gavin Newsom. But then when you actually watch him interact with women, he's like, it's like a caveman view. Like a girl will say like, I'm going to college. [44:10] So it's ultimately this very reactionary, ultimately, like really like nihilistic view of the world. You know, someone like, you know, whether it's Andrew Tate, who obviously has all these sort of criminal allegations, you know, also in the club was this guy named Myron Gaines. Yes. Who's, you know, sort of pseudonym because they're admiring his gains in the gym. You know, he's these are guys who are really like just pumping out this like hate content. And so it is interesting.

[44:40] discuss it, but they certainly aren't like orthodox conservative figures as we might think of them. Yeah, no, it's interesting. Hearing you talk about it made me think that, you know, I guess if Candace Owens beat is conspiracy, their beat is misogyny and hate for women. I mean, frankly, yeah, hate for women, sometimes hate for Indian people. That's kind of a rising one. You know, they're kind of just there are these guys who sort of like, look, I mean, they just want more [45:10] And they do, you know, it's they can get, you know, someone like Chud the Builder, who's sort of an extreme example of this. They get sort of trapped in these like escalatory attention cycles. And so Sneeko converts to Islam and then, you know, is caught drinking and all this stuff. And so they live some pretty twisted lives. Just weird drama all the time. I used to listen to Steve Bannon's podcast all the time because I felt like it would tell me where MAGA was going at least a couple of weeks early. [45:40] crazy idea and then all of a sudden to be on Trump's true social feed a few weeks later. I've fallen off on that listening habit in part because the guy just cranks out like what, three, four hours of stuff a day and I couldn't keep up for it. But also I felt like in the beginning of Trump 2.0, [45:57] The Bannon wing of the party seemed to be losing, right? Like his enemy was Elon Musk. Elon Musk was sitting in the White House. He was like co-president for a while. I don't know. Maybe that's not the case anymore. Like, where do you think Bannon and that media empire sit in the kind of mega media hierarchy in space these days? You know, it's interesting. People are people ask me this before, and I'm kind of trying to figure it out myself exactly what influence Steve Bannon has.

[46:27] for journalists. And so they're happy. He's often in articles are kind of cited as his wisdom. He is, as you said, I mean, he still has these figures who are kind of like these like B tier operatives who will sort of reveal that something's going to happen. Like he'll have like John Solomon, who's kind of this like conservative investigative reporter and is now joining the government as, and he'll say, you know, Tulsi Gabbard, you know, basically digging up stuff to interfere [46:57] that Dita Peters is going to get pardoned soon. And that happened. And so I think, but as for his actual influence, I mean, as you said, he was kind of this anti-tech oligarch guy. I think we're seeing more of that coalition kind of congeal on the right. But at the moment, I think he's kind of just humming along, but not with any sort of particular amount of sweat. [47:18] Yeah, I think he was last seen pushing the anti-Sharia law ballot initiative in Texas, for example, as a way to maybe turn out voters for Paxson. And clearly it's his hobby horses and his candidates. But yeah, I'm sort of not exactly clear where he's at in this space. So, look, the whole point of this conversation was to talk about this MAGA media ecosystem and figure out what it tells us about where the party is going, [47:48] you know, later than we all want it to be. We talked about Tucker in the policy fights around Iran and U.S. support towards Israel. Are there other ideological or policy splits that you are observing kind of bubble up in this space? I do think, you know, things like certainly AI, I think, is emerging as a real issue, whether it's data centers or like government oversight of AI. People like Steve Bannon have really been whipping up the idea of like, you know, we need more government oversight. Or I think there's also, you know, on sort of a more

[48:18] scale, there's this growing sense on like places like TikTok where you'll have a video of a farmer being like, people keep asking to buy my land for a data center. Now, you know, admittedly, I don't think that's much of like a sob story. You know, he can sell it or not. But it's giving people this sense of like there's like sinister forces at play. And I think that always like really hits with the right. On the other hand, you have these people like David Sachs, these tech people who are clearly very associated with the administration who basically, you know, want to [48:48] You know, Matt Walsh at the Daily Wire, on the other hand, is like a very anti-AI guy. So you can see these splits. I mean, certainly, as you mentioned, the Iran and sort of intervention, Israel in general is like a huge fault line. So I think we're, as Trump kind of receives an influence, I think this fight is going to break out more in the open. Yeah. The other thing I want to ask is, you know, there's been some suggestion that a lot of the heat you see in the mega media world is just. [49:16] financially driven. There's a woman named Ashley St. Clair, who is a former MAGA media influencer, who is probably best known to this audience for having a child with Elon Musk and then kind of like [49:28] talking about it afterwards, she recently said that the whole right wing influencer world is just getting paid and that most of this post you see or that causes that kind of these MAGA folks take up happen because someone is cutting them a check. And I think a lot of people have pointed to the fact that like all of a sudden Katie Miller, Stephen Miller, White House advisor, Stephen Miller's wife is talking about like what solar farms, I think. And people like, hmm, interesting that happened. Is that true? Do you think is actually St. Clair right that there's a

[49:58] take out there? I think she is right. I think there's like a huge amount of pay to play or payola washing around. I mean, whether it's people who are kind of like named figures, like the talk radio is like Chad Prather or what have you, or just these like meme accounts that are like end wokeness and have a million followers. I'll give you an example. I just wrote this week about how suddenly a bunch of these people were saying, Harley Davidson is so woke and gay. We got to get your Harley, whatever. And by a Indian motorcycle, which is there's another motorcycle [50:28] And it was so strange that there wasn't at that time like a real like wokeness, like a genuine wokeness controversy. And all of a sudden they all just start attacking it. And I think like I haven't proven it, but I think it's clear that this is a paid campaign, whether by this rival motorcycle company or some other third force to just pump out these articles and these posts. Similarly, someone like Laura Loomer will suddenly be like, we got to straighten out these Venezuelan oil export licenses. I mean these things. Oil is a big one. [50:58] The Gateway Bundy had this thing that was like, we got it. We can't keep sanctioning this Indian oil refinery. I mean, these things like these guys, these people who normally just like base level culture war stuff are just like, I just am really passionate about the Indian hydrocarbon.

[51:28] all these influencers were posting essentially verbatim messages saying Trump needs a ballroom. And she suggested that that was clear evidence that there was a coordination of this message and like, I don't know, maybe a discord chat room or something. Yeah. I mean, I think clearly there's like group chats of some kind that, you know, whether I don't think necessarily those people are being paid. Right. But I think there is also this kind of like there's like an access, I think you probably want to preserve with the Republican Party, with the White House. So you get invited to the to the events or to Mar-a-Lago. And so they'll say, you know, [51:58] you know, within like 20, 30 minutes of the shooting, suddenly like it is unbelievable the Democrats won't let Trump have his giant ballroom. Yeah, the White House is not directly paying these folks. But if you do their bidding, then people like Stephen Miller will reply to you, share your content, help algorithmically boost you so you have more followers and more engagement and can make more money off future posts. So there is a whole smart grift to it. [52:27] This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Not everyone experiences summer as an endless parade of hot dogs, vacations, and pool parties. For some people, life's woes don't abate when the temperature climbs and the days get longer. If you've got the summertime blues or are simply feeling overwhelmed, BetterHelp is there when you need it. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 6 million people globally. And it works with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million [52:57] to a strict code of conduct and it's fully licensed in the u.s better help does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals a short questioner helps you identify your needs and your preferences and their 12 or more years of experience and industry leading match fulfillment rate means they typically get it right the first time if you aren't happy with your match switch to a different therapist at any time from their tailored racks actually took their quiz love it and i just said um i want harrison ford okay wow that's a great show he was in

[53:23] Oh, where he played a therapist. Shrinking. Shrinking. I wanted Harrison Ford. I want a handsome senior who survived lots of plane crashes. It was a very specific quiz. Everyone needs therapy. [53:34] It's incredibly important this day and age, every day and age, really. Probably could have used it in the 12th century as well. For sure. They didn't even know what they were missing. But also... [53:44] The world sucks. There's a lot going on. If you're listening to this show, you're probably a little bit anxious about what happens next. It's good to talk to someone. It's good to talk to someone about your life. [53:53] whatever's going on with family, friends, work. You don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find support and therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash PSA. That's betterhelp.com slash PSA. [54:07] Here, you're free to slow down, free to splash into crystal clear springs, feel Florida sunshine, and spend the day outside. Here, you're free to explore trails full of history, on foot or riding horseback, and watch for a bald eagle gliding overhead. This is Ocala-Marion County, Florida, where wide open spaces, timeless landscapes, and the American spirit come naturally. So go ahead, find your freedom here at OcalaMarion.com. [54:42] One other thing I want to ask about, there's sort of like, there's this conservative gonzo media world out there. There's James O'Keefe, was it Project Veritas was his little thing. He's sort of still doing that kind of thing, like the sting operation type reporting gigs. There's a story in Politico this week about a Florida woman who was a former QAnon organizer

[55:09] them and then release these embarrassing clips to right wing figures like Steven Crowder or James O'Keefe. [55:15] Is this a boom in business? Is this something that like anyone in Washington needs to worry about? Yeah, I mean, I would say it is. It's so O'Keefe clearly is just so as you said, Project Veritas kind of imploded. O'Keefe got pushed out. He was spending all this money on like, like putting on musicals that he was in. I mean, it was truly like crazy stuff. And so that collapsed. And now he's basically posted up in D.C. and he's doing much cheaper things like we might remember. [55:45] beautiful women scrolling on Tinder and they'll get a hit. And if it's anyone who seems at all like government or media, he recently got a guy who like worked at the Washington Nationals baseball team, like as a community relations guy. And they're like, this guy is woke. I mean, so it often, it's kind of a scattershot approach. It doesn't really, you know, always bring in the big targets, but at the same time they have, they've gotten people at the department of justice, all this stuff. And so, you know, look, I would say if you're like a middle-aged bald DC bureaucrat and like, and this is a real one. [56:15] like a 20-year-old au pair in Georgetown just finds you so fascinating and wants to hear about your job, you've got to be on the lookout. Yeah. If someone is really, really interested in all the work you do at GSA and then wants you to talk shit about Donald Trump, yeah, be on the lookout for that. It's interesting the way some candidates have or staffers have kind of – [56:37] dove into this super right wing, the most extreme media world and parlayed it to some success. Like you have written about this right wing nut in Florida named James Fishback, who's running an insurgent campaign for governor. Can you just tell us about Fishback, what he believes in like

[56:53] The degree to which the kind of neo-Nazi adjacent kind of Nick Fuentes fringe content creation world has helped him rise. Yeah. So James Fishback is a guy who's running for governor in the Republican primary in Florida. He's challenging Byron Donalds, who's the sort of Trump endorsed congressman. And James Fishback is a guy with a resume that is like he makes someone like Bill Pulte look like extremely qualified. I mean, this guy really should not be anywhere near elected office. [57:23] He had all these kind of sleazy machinations that were exposed in court records where he would like he had an intern who he wrote for the free press, speaking of. And he was like, send them an email under a fake name and say, you want more James Fishback. And so as a result of these machinations, he's now like two million dollars in debt. So he's basically running from his creditors. His campaign staff was saying his couch might get repossessed. So at the same time, though, he has endorsed basically Nick Fuente's politics. [57:53] test of this like angry, like super racist. Byron Donald's is black and James Fishback will call him a slave. I mean, he'll he all this race. It will send him back to the ghetto, all this sort of stuff. And yet he's rising at the polls. I don't think he's going to win. But if you look at, you know, Byron Donald's events, kind of lackluster, not that many people. He's host his Fishback. Meanwhile, he's hosting these events, standing room only huge overflow crowd. Yeah, I'm like really worried about the seeming lack of cost for this right wing extremism. Like

[58:23] other individual that has made a splash this week is Greg Bovino. Folks probably remember him. He was the kind of like a fascist munchkin who was running customs and border patrol who used to wear that long Nazi coat. And he ran, you know, the occupations of Minneapolis before Donald Trump finally decided like, okay, this guy is too extreme. Even for me, he popped up at a remigration conference in Portugal recently with a bunch of totally extremist, far right kind of neo-Nazi [58:53] migration for those who don't know the term, it's definite cleansing. It's the idea of like pushing out, you know, migrants from whatever European country. Um, and you know, Bovino did an interview in advance of this, um, conference with some far right outlet out of nowhere. He brought up Erwin Rommel, the Nazi general, also known as the desert Fox is sort of like an example of how their career tracks were similar. Like it was bizarre fucking shit. Um, but like, I don't [59:23] going to parlay [59:24] You know, his work at CBP into these like alt-right spaces into something else. Like, it's very worrisome stuff. Yeah, you know, I think he's certainly going to try to. I was just talking to someone who's trying to run a sort of draft Bovino for 2028 campaigns. But as you said, I mean, you know, it's an interesting kind of character because he's wearing the Gestapo coat. He's doing all this Border Patrol stuff. You know, you don't want to jump to conclusions. But it turns out, yes, he is essentially an admirer of Nazis and is kind of hanging out with these fascists.

[59:54] is a term I think, unfortunately, we're going to hear more and more about. This isn't just deporting people who are here illegally. This is saying, well, you're brown, even if you're a citizen. Even if you're a citizen. You've got to go back to your parents' or grandparents' country of origin. And so he's hanging out with people like Austrian far-right figures. This guy, it was organized by a guy who has an organization called Reconquista, which obviously was kicking the Jews and Muslims out of Spain. And it said, you know, Weimar problems call for Weimar solutions. So like some kind of Nazi-like movement. [1:00:24] And now this is, you know, who Greg Bovino is hanging out with and really kind of being embraced by these Gen Z Republicans and sort of tying that back in with James Fishback. You know, Fishback has also faced these these allegations of like having a sexual relationship with a high school student. You know, he hasn't been charged with anything. But if you imagine a candidate that damaged and how much success he's having, how successful could someone who doesn't have all that baggage do? Yeah, I mean, look, this remigration concept, I mean, it's too extreme even for like Marine Le Pen and the National Rally Party in France. I mean, this is really dark stuff. [1:00:54] like the AFD, the neo-Nazis from Germany were at this conference and Greg Bovino was there. And I think the day of he tweeted himself like very much doing, I'm not going to do it, a Hitler's salute. So, yeah, your point, like the mask is off with this guy and he certainly doesn't seem to see a political cost in any way. Yeah. And it's not like the Trump administration is grappling with the fact that this guy has a big role in the Border Patrol. Yeah, they could care less. Finally. So, look, of all the people we've discussed, is there one that, [1:01:22] I don't know, worries you most, maybe worry is the wrong word, but that has the most crossover appeal to Democrats and independents and the most influence to sort of drag people into this conservative space or that MAGA space.

[1:01:33] Yeah, I mean, I think there are a lot that are concerning. I mean, my mind just instantly jumps to Candace Owens, who I think has done a lot to, you know, mainstream anti-Semitism to, you know, I was getting my hair cut and the woman cutting my hair was otherwise very liberal and said, but, you know, but I think Candace Owens is on to a lot. You know, she's just doing investigations. I mean, we saw Hunter Biden when he was on her show. He said, you know, I love the questions you're asking about Charlie Cox. [1:02:03] compelling broadcaster. And so I think that kind of combination, I think is pretty concerning. I put Fuentes up there too. I mean, like I think that there's a lot of young kids in like fraternities at SEC schools who are listening to Nick Fuentes and like, to his credit, he's a compelling broadcaster. Like he sits in front of a microphone for an hour, several hours a night and just speaks into the ether. And that is an incredibly hard thing to do. And he is skilled at it. And he also can be very, very funny. I mean, like you'll see [1:02:33] talking about how funny Nick Fuentes is. And I worry that like that really can help, you know, obscure some genuinely like neo-Nazi, scary, misogynistic, racist views.

[1:03:03] sides of a social media following. I think those views are really sinking in with young Republicans and those people are, you know, unfortunately the future of the party. Yep, their future of the party. And this kind of mega media world, I think, will determine the course that party takes. And so, Will, I'm so grateful to you for talking me through all of this. I find this endlessly fascinating. I could literally go on all day, but I'm grateful to you. And everyone, again, should subscribe to False Flag, your incredible newsletter, which, by the way, we promoted the top two. Yeah, well, thanks for having me on. Thanks, buddy. Thanks again to Will Sommer for [1:03:33] And Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and I will be back next week on the regular Tuesday episode. [1:03:56] Thank you. [1:03:57] Here, you're free to slow down, free to splash into crystal clear springs, feel Florida sunshine, and spend the day outside. Here, you're free to explore trails full of history on foot or riding horseback. [1:04:11] And watch for a bald eagle gliding overhead. This is Ocala-Marion County, Florida, where wide open spaces, timeless landscapes, and the American spirit come naturally. So go ahead. Find your freedom here at OcalaMarion.com.