Day of the 'Bros'
Reelecting a President who tried to subvert the Constitution is dangerous, but so is the fact that one of his avenues back to power was a macho-boy chorus of uncritical podcasters and streamers
In the wee hours of November 6, Donald John Trump was actually gracious in thanking many of those who enabled him to stand before a raucous crowd in West Palm Beach and declare victory.
One of the more telling moments was when he called on Dana White to say a few words. White is not a politician or political operative or MAGA theoretician who spends his days at the Heritage Foundation or the America First Institute thinking up ways to dismantle the federal government. He is the brawny and inked impresario of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the mixed martial arts spectacle popular with young American men.
No disrespect to White, but he is also emblematic of the coarsening of a country now hooked on trashy TikTok videos, violent video games, so-called influencers, and profanity-laced podcasts that for many have crudely replaced discourse.
So it is not surprising that White had a shout-out to some of the podcasters and streamers who shout into the earbuds of the bros. “I want to thank some people real quick. I want to thank the boys Adin Ross, Theo Von, Bussin' with the Boys. And last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan,” White said.
Ross is a streamer whose hate speech has gotten him permanently banned from Twitch; Von is a comic and podcaster; Bussin’ is a good ol’ boy podcast owned by Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Sports; Rogan is a wildly successful podcaster and former stand-up comedian who once worked for White at UFC. It’s unclear if Von endorsed Trump, but all the rest — including Portnoy — did.
In a story on Thursday, The Telegraph described how Trump’s youngest son, 18-year-old Baron, helped his father woo the bro vote by introducing him to “the unfamiliar terrain of online podcasts and streaming, an irreverent, hyper-masculine space obsessed with sports, fighting, pranks, gaming, ad cryptocurrency. It is a world largely ignored by middle-aged, middle-class America, including most of the mainstream media.”
Trump canceled an interview with 60 Minutes, but he went on Bussin’ and talked to Rogan for hours, a podcast that had more than 46 million views on YouTube as of Wednesday morning, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The Chronicle also pointed out that on Tucker Carlson’s Election Night online show, Elon Musk said: “I think it made a big difference that President Trump and soon-to-be Vice President Vance went on lengthy podcasts. This really makes a difference because people…just listen to someone talk for a few hours and that’s how they decide whether you’re a good person, whether they like you." Rogan has credited his three-hour Musk interview with persuading him to vote for Trump.
But is this what being informed in America has come to, ha-ha-ha-ing with a bunch of macho types who play to their bro base and are ill-prepared or uninclined to ask tough questions?
Even the “mighty” Rogan conducted a sycophantic interview with Trump. He began by talking about “the machine” coming after Trump in 2016. When Trump claimed he could have put Hillary Clinton in jail (not that even a President can be prosecutor, judge, and jury — yet), Rogan blithely and ingratiatingly accepted that falsehood as fact by saying: “I respected that you didn’t do that because you said it would be bad for the country.”
When Trump called former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, who has degrees from Princeton, Columbia, and MIT and who commanded airborne and Special Forces units during a distinguished career, “a stupid guy,” Rogan never challenged him.
Not once did Rogan ask Trump if he had any regrets about January 6, 2020, when a mob he incited stormed and savaged Capitol Hill, mercilessly beat police officers, threatened to hang Mike Pence, and hunted for 80-year-old Nancy Pelosi.
Not once did Rogan ask Trump if as President he planned to go after his “enemies within,” as he has vowed.
The toughest question Rogan asked was: “You said you were robbed in 2020 — how were you robbed?”
Then, after some gobbledygook answers, Trump added: “We have to have fair elections.” Again, Rogan accepted that elections are not fair by responding: “So how can you fix that?” Tough guy with softball pitches.
The lead-in song to the Bussin’ podcast goes: “Bussin’ with the boys, hangin’ with the fellas, bettin’ on a game, no woman’s gonna tell us what to do….”
Tellingly, not one of the podcasts was hosted by a woman.
He’s Not Going Anywhere
You’ve got to give the man with the blonde do his due.
Trump’s rise from the shambles of the Capitol to regain control of the federal government is worthy of the superlatives he employed on Election Night to describe his win — “incredible,” “historic,” “magnificent.”
But given vanity and the Biden befuddlement, he skipped by the fact that he is 78-years old and fought with the vigor of a candidate a couple of decades younger.
Put aside his wandering, “weaving” stem-winders; the so-called town hall when he suspended questions and swayed to his playlist; the fact that opening a truck door presented a challenge. Trump announced his second bid for the White House on Nov. 15, 2022, kept up a grueling campaign-trail schedule for the next two years, and dodged a fatal bullet.
In a post-election postmortem, Democratic political strategist James Carville offered a sop to Democrats shivering with worry when he predicted that Trump won’t last for four more years. “He a fat, sick, old man,” said the 80-year-old Carville during a Q&A on Wednesday that preceded a screening of the documentary Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid!
Really?
If the past 24 months are any guide, Trump will tough it out for a full term behind the Resolute Desk.
INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW
Musk Ask: Now that JD Vance’s campaign shtick as hillbilly-made-good is over, will he fade into complete irrelevance while South African-born Elon the “Genius” becomes de facto Vice-President? Already, Axios reported on Saturday, Trump had Musk join him on a call to Zelensky.
Khan with the Win? The brilliant Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan is hearing a bell toll in Washington, and it’s not coming from the National Cathedral. Since her term is up and she is serving at the pleasure of the President, Big Tech will be looking to oust her. Khan and DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter have tried mightily to level the playing field in a number of industries and encourage competition that would benefit consumers. But while Vance has spoken admiringly of her work, she is on Musk’s hit list, and how fast she is a goner could be a test of Elon’s influence vs. that of JD (if in fact he were to go to bat for her).
Water on the Brain? If Trump keeps his promise, RFK Jr., who has warned against adding fluoride to drinking water, will be some sort of health czar in the new Administration. So it’s fair to ask: How many times was the incarnation of General Jack D. Ripper glued to Dr. Strangelove as a kid?
The Trump to Watch? Front and center on Election Night was Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee and wife of the incoming President’s son Eric. The onetime Inside Edition producer, who cleaned house at the RNC, knows her medium: She was strategically placed throughout most of Trump’s victory speech. Ms. Trump reportedly considered a Senate run in 2021, so don’t be surprised if she uses her success at the RNC as a springboard to seek elected office.
Adult in the Room? Trump’s first announced appointment is installing no-nonsense campaign co-chair Susie Wiles as his Chief of Staff. Wiles, 67, is a veteran political operative to be reckoned with and is likely to bring some order to the Trump White House. But while she does not seem to be a hard-right MAGA zealot like Brooke Rollins, the CEO of the America First Institute mentioned as a potential staff chief, will Wiles be able to restrain Trump? Probably not even if she wanted to do so. But a least there may be one voice of reason to which he sometimes listens.