These people are having a hard time figuring out how a historic Woman of Color™, preordained by the Lord Himself to shatter that elusive glass ceiling — for Democracy™, and feminism, once and for all — could have lost an election to a literal fascist.
So they have a theory — which, according to journalist Ashley Carman, took seven writers and “months” to piece together — plus a series of corresponding charts that put ’08-era Glenn Beck’s notorious Fox News chalkboard to shame.
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It turns out that the culprit is something called the podcast “manosphere,” a collective of misogynistic online bros who serve as a gateway drug to fascism for millions of young men.
Via Bloomberg (emphasis added):
As Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th US President on Monday, he was surrounded by his family, donors and wealthy tech executives. Just a few feet farther away stood a political newcomer who’s been credited with encouraging lots of votes: Joe Rogan.
The fact that Rogan, the host of the world’s most popular podcast, watched from the Capitol Rotunda as Republican luminaries like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis were confined to overflow speaks volumes about the new dynamics at play in Washington and the media writ large. Over the past two years, a set of massively popular podcasters and streamers cemented themselves as the new mainstream source of information for millions of young men, and, according to a new Bloomberg analysis, used their perch to rally these constituents in support of Trump and the political right.
In an effort to understand the media diet of a generation, Bloomberg watched and analyzed over 2,000 videos from nine prominent YouTubers.
For years, I’ve seen journalists cover the “manosphere” as a random group of friends who show up on each other’s podcasts. Today, I and other reporters published a story firmly showing how these YouTubers boost each other and politicians while steering male culture to the right pic.twitter.com/bKvQwF0UPq
— Ashley Carman (@ashleyrcarman) January 22, 2025
The nine perpetrators include the likes of Joe Rogan, Lex Fridman, Patrick Bet-David, etc. You get the idea: popular podcasters who aren’t part of the legacy corporate state media machine.
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The TL;DR of this very long and rambling essay is that evil white male podcasters conspired to make other evil white male voters cost Mamala the election with conspiracy theories about transgenders and vaccines.
It concludes with a barely-veiled call for more censorship — the only answer these people ever have for their political problems.
Continuing
Since the election, the creators have continued making videos along the same themes — with increasing leeway from the platforms on content that used to be against the rules. Meanwhile Rogan, the Nelk Boys, Von, Fridman and Bet-David floated from event to event throughout the inauguration and preceding weekend. Rogan posted a photo depicting him, UFC CEO White and Trump at a formal event, and, on Inauguration Day, an image of the US Capitol calling the swearing in of the president “surreal.”
Did Joe Rogan and people like him probably help sway young men on the fence, on the margins, particularly ones who don’t pay attention to politics, in favor of Trump? It’s very likely, but the question never asked is: why are these voters so alienated from the Democrat Party that even the softest kind of promotion by mostly nonpartisan podcasters is enough to push them over the edge?
Maybe some introspection is in order?
Nope. It’s fascism and misogyny, and this is why the calcified liberal governing class will fail and fail forever to recapture any semblance of national support.
