Following Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States, a viral video of political streamer Nick Fuentes emerged in which he cynically stated, “Your body, my choice,” in response to women’s concerns about losing rights to their bodily autonomy as a result of Trump;s reelection. This statement was also a direct counterattack against the Harris-Walz campaign’s efforts to democratize reproductive healthcare.
Despite Fuentes’ many problematic traits and his subscription to white supremacist ideology, he has a whopping 450,500 followers on X. A longtime conservative and Trump supporter who also participated in the January 6th insurrection, Fuentes is just a speck of degeneracy in a rabbit hole that many young men have the disprivilege of falling into.
In the 2024 presidential election, young men were more likely to favor Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris with 56% voting for the former president. This was a staggering change from the last presidential election, in which 56% of young male voters favored current President Joe Biden.
Looking at Spotify’s podcast charts, the top 10 consists of many right-wing content creators and grifters, such as Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk. The growth in popularity of such content is a clear indication of listeners — and by association, voters — moving right.
President-elect Trump went on what Forbes called the “‘Bro’ Podcast Tour,” guest starring on podcasts such as Joe Rogan’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” and Logan Paul’s “Impaulsive.” Both Rogan and Paul have a major influence among young men with their content based on traditional, masculine ideologies and politics.
Trump and his campaign knew what they were doing with these seemingly asinine appearances — they were preying on the predominantly young male audience that these shows attract.
This also begs the question as to why podcasting as a medium has been swarmed by right-wingers and not other social media platforms. Conservatives are privy to lying and exacerbating certain scenarios and issues — as seen in the Twitter ban of then-President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed to have won the 2020 presidential election.
Also, because men make up half of America’s electorate, it would only make sense to appear on media that many of them consume. This strategic campaign decision appears to sway these audiences politically in large numbers.
In a time where men feel like they have no close confidants and are experiencing shrinking social circles, they see themselves in men who flaunt their pseudo-intellect and power. One of the only ways that they can feel good about themselves is by looking up to male-centric, right wing influencers and ideologies.
Subscribing to these ideas means subscribing to traditionalism, which includes long-standing ideas of patriarchy, toxic masculinity and socioeconomic practices. They want to be the breadwinner, and to hold the financial power in a relationship. In 2014, 42% of high school seniors believed that “the husband should make all the important decisions in the family,” an idea that has only been exacerbated by the right-wing mentality pushed by these podcasters.
Because of their podcast dominance, the right is able to influence impressionable young men to further their conservative agenda. If men like Fuentes can garner nearly half a million followers on social media despite spewing insane, racist and lie-filled rhetoric, then his more media trained counterparts will do even better in this indoctrination campaign.
This rhetoric is dangerous. If young men continually consume this content and keep believing that men are superior to women and should make all the important decisions in relationships, their views on not only romantic relationships will be skewed — their misogyny may manifest itself in violent behavior and in turbulent ways.
It is important for young men, and everyone, for that matter, to think critically about the media they’re consuming. When these men become used to sensationalized titles such as “Woke Pro-Choicer DESTROYED by Common Sense,” they begin to fall down the rabbit hole of right-wing grifts.
Rebecca Do is an Opinion Intern for the fall 2024 quarter. She can be reached at dort@uci.edu.
Edited by Zahira Vasquez and Annabelle Aguirre