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New York Times
10-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
The Antidote to Democrats' Worst Impulses Is Right There, Inviting Them to Like and Subscribe
As Democrats continue to sort through the wreckage of the November election, one idea that keeps circulating is to mint a 'liberal Joe Rogan,' or better yet, create a parallel ecosystem of left-liberal podcasters to rival the network that has emerged on the right. It's not that they admire Mr. Rogan — his statements about transgender people and race so horrified liberals that many went ballistic when Senator Bernie Sanders accepted his surprise endorsement early in the 2020 presidential race. In 2024 Kamala Harris kept her distance, and Mr. Rogan gave his endorsement to Donald Trump. It's Mr. Rogan's influence that Democrats covet, an influence that has only increased in recent years with the popularity of a new crowd of male podcasters whom he has supported and who are now starting to rival his popularity. Amid a widespread — and widely mocked — effort by Democrats to reach young men, several elite liberal groups have sprung into action to counter the Rogan effect. One for-profit startup called AND Media (which stands for Achieve Narrative Dominance) hopes to raise $70 million to fund online influencers. Another similar undertaking has connections to the former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. These efforts are unlikely to succeed, because they're based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what these podcasts are and why they are so popular. Two decades ago, Andrew Breitbart articulated the theory that 'politics is downstream from culture.' That's no longer quite right. Culture now is politics, and these podcasters — or bro-casters — are a perfect example of why. Like Mr. Rogan, the podcasters Andrew Schulz, Tim Dillon and Theo Von all came up through the comedy circuit. They have no coherent political agenda, no detailed policy analysis, no claim to expertise of any kind. In fact, it's the opposite. Mr. Schulz and Mr. Von recently shared their amazement at discovering that 27 million Soviets died during World War II — 'That's unbelievable! You don't ever hear about that,' Mr. Von marveled. So trying to create an AstroTurfed lefty version of the bro-casters, trying to find equal and opposite spokesmen for the causes that Democrats care about, won't work, because these guys aren't spokesmen for anything. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Atlantic
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
The Democrats Have an Authenticity Gap
Since President Donald Trump's victory last fall, Democrats have been trying to reengage with male voters, find a 'Joe Rogan of the left,' and even fund a whole left-leaning 'manosphere.' Young men—Rogan's core audience—were among the voting blocs that definitively moved toward the GOP in 2024, as a comprehensive postmortem by the data firm Catalist recently illustrated. In response, many powerful liberal figures have obsessively returned to the same idea: If we can't compete with their influential manosphere, why not construct our own? One high-profile progressive group, the Speaking With American Men project, is embarking on a two-year, $20 million mission to build 'year-round engagement in online and offline spaces Democrats have long ignored—investing in creators, trusted messengers, and upstream cultural content,' though its leaders say they're not looking for a liberal Rogan. Another effort, AND Media (AND being an acronym for 'Achieve Narrative Dominance'), has raised $7 million and, according to The New York Times, is looking to amass many times that amount over the next four years to back voices that will break with 'the current didactic, hall monitor style of Democratic politics that turns off younger audiences.' But in recent conversations with people in all corners of Democratic politics—far-left Bernie bros, seasoned centrists of the D.C. establishment, and rising new voices in progressive media—I came away with the sense that Democrats don't have simply a podcast-dude issue, one that could be solved with fresh money, new YouTube channels, and a bunch of studio mics. The party has struggled to capitalize on Trump's second-term missteps. It has yet to settle on a unifying message or vision of the future. Given this absence, such a tactical, top-down fix as deputizing a liberal Rogan looks tempting. The big problem is: That fix is both improbable and illogical. The party's 'podcast problem' is a microcosm of a much larger likability issue. 'We are a little bit, you know, too front-of-the-classroom,' Jon Lovett, a former Obama speechwriter and a co-host of Pod Save America, told me. In a sense, the show's production company, Crooked Media, already tested the 'make your own media ecosystem' proposition: Five years after its independent founding in 2017, Crooked announced that it had received funding from an investment firm run by the Democratic megadonor George Soros. Lovett seemed less skeptical of the new initiatives than other Democrats I interviewed, but also acknowledged some limitations. 'We believe how important it is to invest in progressive media,' Lovett told me. 'But in the same way you can't strategize ways to be authentic, you can't buy organic support.' The limits of this approach have already become clear. 'If you're trying to identify and cultivate and create this idea of a 'liberal Joe Rogan,' by definition, you're manufacturing something that's not authentic,' Brendan McPhillips, who served as campaign manager during John Fetterman's successful Pennsylvania Senate bid in 2022, told me. 'This fucking insane goose chase that these elite donors want to pursue to create some liberal oasis of new media is just really harebrained and misguided.' Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and other prominent voices in the existing manosphere are not inherently political and, even when they do touch politics, don't adhere to GOP or conservative orthodoxy. Although Rogan and Von did attend Trump's second inauguration, both have also been enamored with Senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont; and recently, Von delivered an emotional monologue about the destruction in Gaza, drawing ire from many of his listeners on the right. In short, these guys are guided not by ideology, but by their own curiosity and gut instinct. Fluidity in belief is central to their appeal, and helps explain their cross-party success. Their audiences also blossomed over time, not after the stroke of a donor's pen. Throughout my interviews, I heard constant lamentations over the inescapable 'D.C. speak' in both Democratic politics and the left-leaning press. 'Normal people aren't out here talking about and paying attention to the kind of things that tie senior Democratic strategists up in knots,' McPhillips, who lives in Philadelphia, told me. You can't read white papers and study what goes on in the states from afar, he argued; you have to be there at eye level, living among real people, talking like a real person. What politicians have been advised to do for decades—stick to short cable-news hits, repeat the same few points over and over—are habits that today's voters find, in the words of a senior official who worked both in the Joe Biden White House and on the Kamala Harris campaign, 'repulsive.' Although this person, who asked for anonymity in order to speak freely about party strategy, discounted the premise of finding a 'Rogan of the left' as a fool's errand, they did say that, from now through 2028, Democrats should try to infiltrate sports-focused podcasts, paying particular attention to YouTube. This operative has come to view the current moment less as center-left versus center-right, and more as a larger battle of institutionalists versus anti-institutionalists: 'The psyche of a liberal in this moment is institution defense.' Also: fear. Too many Democrats, they believe, approach every public conversation and media interview with a level of trepidation about what they're saying—not in fear of Trump, but in fear of the wrath of their own potential voters. During her 2024 campaign, Harris reportedly feared the potential blowback within her own team from sitting down with Rogan. 'There was a backlash with some of our progressive staff that didn't want her to be on' his show, Jennifer Palmieri, who advised the second gentleman Doug Emhoff, said a week after the election. (Palmieri later revised her comments.) This year, some progressives have found a way to break through. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who's proved capable of acing a hostile Fox News interview, has now grown facial scruff and has been popping up on the podcast circuit. Several Democrats I spoke with praised both Buttigieg's recent media tour— his appearance on the brash bro show Flagrant was singled out—and Sanders's ability to win over certain manosphere hosts. 'They're able to do that because they have the confidence and the skill to go on a program like that and just be themselves, and people believe what they say because they're being honest,' McPhillips told me. On the Fighting Oligarchy Tour, and in his frequent podcast appearances, Sanders has positioned himself as an accessible and righteously angry force. Faiz Shakir, Sanders's 2020 campaign manager and now an adviser to the senator, told me that Democrats 'are too far removed from organic and interesting conversations that people want to hear about, and have become too reliant on a one-way push at people about the things we want to tell them,' rather than actually listening to voters. Although he himself is a Harvard alumnus who lives and works in D.C., Shakir criticized the Democratic Party's perpetually buttoned-up ethos, the opposite of an unstructured podcast hang. He spoke about the power of anger—the defining emotion of the past political decade—as something that many Democrats don't know how to wield effectively. 'If you're angry, you're uncouth,' Shakir said. ' Calm down! That's not professional! ' Unless Democrats stop worrying about politely conforming to pre-Trump communication mores, he believes the chasm with voters will continue to exist, hypothetical new-media ecosystem be damned. John Hendrickson: Jake and Logan Paul hit the limits of the manosphere Two things can be true at the same time: Many centrist Democrats may be too timid or genteel, and lack the moxie to speak with the anger that resonates with voters. But the cause of men's alienation from liberal politics cannot be distilled simply into perceptions of gentility. Nor is voicing rage a plausible way to hack the manosphere. When it comes to podcasts—the medium of the moment—a different emotion reigns: curiosity. Hosts such as Rogan and Von succeed across party lines not because they're indignant, but because they're inquisitive and, crucially, persuadable. Their talent is to seem real and relatable without trying. Throughout my conversations, I asked why liberals have not organically produced a figure of Rogan's magnitude and influence. No one really had an answer. But one thing became abundantly clear: No amount of strategic parsing will let Democrats fake their way through this moment. You can't buy authentic communication.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Democrats want a liberal Joe Rogan to help them win elections. I'm right here.
I've been told scores of wealthy Democratic donors are eager to identify and recruit a 'liberal Joe Rogan' who will do for their party's candidates what the actual Joe Rogan apparently did for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. After giving it 15 seconds of careful thought, and as a devout believer in forced authenticity, I formally accept what I assume is a multimillion-dollar offer and proudly take on the title of 'the left's Joe Rogan.' Before detailing my plans as America's next great 'progressive influencer/podcaster/talentless middle-aged white guy who somehow became popular,' let me refresh your memory on how we got here. It's generally believed a big part of Trump's success in his 2024 campaign to retake the White House stemmed from the fact that, as the New York Times recently wrote, "he cultivated an ecosystem of supporters on YouTube, TikTok and podcasts.' In particular, Trump won over younger male voters by chatting with bro-centric influencers like Rogan and Theo Von. Opinion: What's an oligarchy? With Trump's 'Big, Beautiful' bill, we're living in one. Because Democratic strategists tend to be extremely bad at their jobs, they've concluded the party's best path forward is to spend millions of dollars creating a similar left-wing-influencer ecosystem that will allow liberal candidates to 'connect' with 'desirable demographics' in 'authentic' ways that seem 'organic' and not 'created by Democratic strategists.' Cool. The Times reported that the Democratic donor network American Bridge plans to launch a company called AND Media. The 'AND' stands for 'Achieve Narrative Dominance,' which certainly sounds better than 'This Will End Badly,' or TWEB Media. Do you want to take part in our next Forum? Join the conversation by emailing forum@ can also follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and sign up for our Opinion newsletter to stay updated on future Forum posts. Based on an AND Media business plan it reviewed, the Times reported: "Hoping to move away from 'the current didactic, hall monitor style of Democratic politics that turns off younger audiences,' AND Media will focus on directly funding influencers and co-producing their content.' Nothing says 'we can nail the youth vote' quite like the phrase 'didactic, hall monitor style.' I mean, they could sink millions of dollars into hosting community town halls throughout the country that connect actual Democratic candidates with actual voters to…you know…talk. And they could spend more millions blasting ads on every available platform that show people exactly how unhinged and self-enriching the current administration is, and how it's actively defying court orders while trying to slash Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP benefits and punish educational institutions that don't follow the government's ideology. Opinion: I wrote a speech for Trump's Golden Dome defense. Get ready to feel something. But none of that sounds like something the bros would do, so probably better to spend the money creating a podcast sponsored by 'LibBlast!,' the new progressive energy drink getting chugged by liberal influencers like me. Which brings us back to me. I'm clearly the perfect pick to become the liberal Joe Rogan. He's 57, I'm 54, so we both have that 'older dad who's cool' vibe that apparently works in the manosphere. I am, of course, liberal, so that box comes pre-checked. Rogan, as host of 'Fear Factor,' made people eat bugs. I once ate a chocolate-covered cricket, so I'd call that about a tie. And like Rogan, I have few truly redeeming qualities, so why not let me babble in front of a microphone with little concern whether the words I'm uttering offend people or make any sense? Let's get this started. All insecure men who were born on third base and feel bitter that the world hasn't walked them to home plate yet, please get ready for a fresh, totally organic and extremely rich voice that will make you feel seen. OK, there's a possibility this won't work exactly as intended. Rogan and other right-wing influencers, it seems, derive their power from pandering to disaffected straight white men angry they have to share power and clout with other men and…gulp…sometimes even women. They're anti-woke, and the left is, inherently, kinda woke. So if you're looking for the left-wing Joe Rogan, you're going to get a high-profile liberal white dude who's woke, smart, and kind of emo, in a self-assured sort of way. You'd basically be getting MSNBC's Chris Hayes, who already exists and isn't accomplishing what Democratic strategists envision such a figure would accomplish. So I'm again drawn back to the whole 'maybe we should just spend a ton of money on getting out there and talking to people and being ourselves and clueing folks in to all the very bad things Republicans are doing' idea. Of course, that probably wouldn't get me my $50 million contract to be the progressive answer to Joe Rogan. But it would save the country from having another random dude spouting off on the internet, pretending he's something more than just a salesman for sports drinks and men's hair growth products. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats want a liberal Joe Rogan to beat MAGA. I'm in. | Opinion
USA Today
27-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Democrats want a liberal Joe Rogan to help them win elections. I'm right here.
Democrats want a liberal Joe Rogan to help them win elections. I'm right here. | Opinion I mean, they could sink millions of dollars into hosting community town halls throughout the country that connect actual Democratic candidates with actual voters to…you know…talk. But nah. Show Caption Hide Caption Donald Trump appears on Joe Rogan's podcast With the election days away, Donald Trump was in Texas for a sit-down interview on the podcast 'The Joe Rogan Experience' with Joe Rogan. I've been told scores of wealthy Democratic donors are eager to identify and recruit a 'liberal Joe Rogan' who will do for their party's candidates what the actual Joe Rogan apparently did for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. After giving it 15 seconds of careful thought, and as a devout believer in forced authenticity, I formally accept what I assume is a multimillion-dollar offer and proudly take on the title of 'the left's Joe Rogan.' Before detailing my plans as America's next great 'progressive influencer/podcaster/talentless middle-aged white guy who somehow became popular,' let me refresh your memory on how we got here. Democrats think they can buy authenticity and create a liberal Rogan It's generally believed a big part of Trump's success in his 2024 campaign to retake the White House stemmed from the fact that, as the New York Times recently wrote, "he cultivated an ecosystem of supporters on YouTube, TikTok and podcasts.' In particular, Trump won over younger male voters by chatting with bro-centric influencers like Rogan and Theo Von. Opinion: What's an oligarchy? With Trump's 'Big, Beautiful' bill, we're living in one. Because Democratic strategists tend to be extremely bad at their jobs, they've concluded the party's best path forward is to spend millions of dollars creating a similar left-wing-influencer ecosystem that will allow liberal candidates to 'connect' with 'desirable demographics' in 'authentic' ways that seem 'organic' and not 'created by Democratic strategists.' Cool. Democrats are flailing to find something that simply doesn't exist The Times reported that the Democratic donor network American Bridge plans to launch a company called AND Media. The 'AND' stands for 'Achieve Narrative Dominance,' which certainly sounds better than 'This Will End Badly,' or TWEB Media. Based on an AND Media business plan it reviewed, the Times reported: "Hoping to move away from 'the current didactic, hall monitor style of Democratic politics that turns off younger audiences,' AND Media will focus on directly funding influencers and co-producing their content.' Nothing says 'we can nail the youth vote' quite like the phrase 'didactic, hall monitor style.' Liberals would be served better by getting out and meeting people I mean, they could sink millions of dollars into hosting community town halls throughout the country that connect actual Democratic candidates with actual voters to…you know…talk. And they could spend more millions blasting ads on every available platform that show people exactly how unhinged and self-enriching the current administration is, and how it's actively defying court orders while trying to slash Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP benefits and punish educational institutions that don't follow the government's ideology. Opinion: I wrote a speech for Trump's Golden Dome defense. Get ready to feel something. But none of that sounds like something the bros would do, so probably better to spend the money creating a podcast sponsored by 'LibBlast!,' the new progressive energy drink getting chugged by liberal influencers like me. Which brings us back to me. I'm clearly the perfect pick to become the liberal Joe Rogan. Introducing the progressive Joe Rogan - me! He's 57, I'm 54, so we both have that 'older dad who's cool' vibe that apparently works in the manosphere. I am, of course, liberal, so that box comes pre-checked. Rogan, as host of 'Fear Factor,' made people eat bugs. I once ate a chocolate-covered cricket, so I'd call that about a tie. And like Rogan, I have few truly redeeming qualities, so why not let me babble in front of a microphone with little concern whether the words I'm uttering offend people or make any sense? Where are all my disaffected young white men at? Let's get this started. All insecure men who were born on third base and feel bitter that the world hasn't walked them to home plate yet, please get ready for a fresh, totally organic and extremely rich voice that will make you feel seen. OK, there's a possibility this won't work exactly as intended. Rogan and other right-wing influencers, it seems, derive their power from pandering to disaffected straight white men angry they have to share power and clout with other men and…gulp…sometimes even women. They're anti-woke, and the left is, inherently, kinda woke. I'd love to take Democratic donor money, but it ain't gonna work So if you're looking for the left-wing Joe Rogan, you're going to get a high-profile liberal white dude who's woke, smart, and kind of emo, in a self-assured sort of way. You'd basically be getting MSNBC's Chris Hayes, who already exists and isn't accomplishing what Democratic strategists envision such a figure would accomplish. So I'm again drawn back to the whole 'maybe we should just spend a ton of money on getting out there and talking to people and being ourselves and clueing folks in to all the very bad things Republicans are doing' idea. Of course, that probably wouldn't get me my $50 million contract to be the progressive answer to Joe Rogan. But it would save the country from having another random dude spouting off on the internet, pretending he's something more than just a salesman for sports drinks and men's hair growth products. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at
Fox News
22-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Democrats seeking to buy the 'next Joe Rogan' of the left after 2024 election defeat
Democrats are spending top dollar to "find the next Joe Rogan" on the left after their 2024 election defeat, according to a new report published Tuesday. Liberal strategists are pushing the party's megadonors to spend tens of millions of dollars to develop "an army of left-leaning online influencers" to help the party "compete culturally" with President Donald Trump, according to The New York Times. "The quiet effort amounts to an audacious — skeptics might say desperate — bet that Democrats can buy more cultural relevance online, despite the fact that casually right-leaning touchstones like Mr. Rogan's podcast were not built by political donors and did not rise overnight," the Times reported. According to the report, a group of liberal operatives met in Washington after the election and decided to come up with a for-profit media company called AND Media, or "Achieve Narrative Dominance," to financially support social media influencers. The company aims to raise $45 million over the next four years and has already raised $7 million, according to the report. Their business plan, shared with the Times, says the company will directly fund influencers and help produce their content. They will make a creator talent agency and make deals with "four flagship creators." Another effort in the works is called Project Bullhorn, which will also gather donations to support liberal content creators. The project, which aims to raise $35 million in its first year, was pitched to donors at a meeting this month, where Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., was reportedly in attendance. Other projects seeking major donor funding include Channel Zero, a company which will provide administrative support to influencers with large followings, and Double Tap Democracy, which will collaborate with 2,000 apolitical influencers with smaller followings, the Times reported. The report comes as Democrats face a messaging and identity crisis in the election aftermath, with polls showing the party's favorability sinking to record lows this year. According to a Fox News national poll conducted in April, the favorability rating for the Democratic Party dropped to 41%. Trump dominated the podcast scene during the 2024 campaign, reaching millions of listeners in his interviews with popular influencers and comedians like Joe Rogan, Andrew Schulz and Theo Von. Some media outlets have reported that his online presence was instrumental in winning the election, particularly for younger male voters, who supported Trump at 53%, compared to former Vice President Kamala Harris' 45%, according to a Fox News Voter Survey last November. Last November, Rogan mocked Democrats for calling for a new version of him to help their party. "This is one thing that keeps coming up like, 'We need our own Joe Rogan' right? But they had me, I was on their side!" Rogan said on his November 26 podcast. The Democrats' influencer strategy was criticized by Fox News' "The Five" co-host Harold Ford Jr. on Wednesday. "Democrats, you can go out asking for money from donors saying we're going to create. This is not an AI machine," he said on "The Five." "You've got to figure out people who actually know what people are talking about, who know the feelings of people, and don't judge them because a year ago they said something that offended you. Or an hour ago, said something that offended you. Sit and listen to people. That's why Joe Rogan is such a powerful, powerful figure… and why Donald Trump has been so successful as well." Joe Rogan and the White House did not return a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
