Trump’s success among young men illustrates influence of online ‘manosphere’

This year, President-elect Trump made gains across almost every demographic since the 2020 election. But one of the most notable was among young men, who shifted roughly 15 points to the right. Laura Barrón-López examines how Trump was able to court young men online by reaching out to them in spaces far beyond mainstream media outlets.
William Brangham:
This year, compared to the 2020 election, president-elect Trump made gains across almost every single demographic group. But one of the most notable shifts was among young men, who moved roughly 15 points to the right.
Laura Barron-Lopez examines how Mr. Trump was able to court young men online by reaching out to them in spaces well beyond mainstream media outlets.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
On the night it became clear president-elect Donald Trump won the presidency again, he was joined on stage by members of his family and several high-profile supporters.
Dana White, President, Ultimate Fighting Championship:
This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family.
(Cheering)
Laura Barron-Lopez:
Including the CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship, Dana White, who paid tribute to a group of men he believed helped sway the election.
Dana White:
I want to thank the Nelk Boys, Adin Ross, Theo Von, Bussin’ With the Boys, and last but not least the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
While those names may sound unfamiliar to some, they are all part of a growing online ecosystem that’s been dubbed the manosphere, a term loosely defined as male-centered content published on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and the popular livestreaming site for gamers Twitch.
Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. President-Elect: It is so crooked.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
During his campaign, candidate Trump saw massive untapped potential to reach young male voters by appearing on podcasts like “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Donald Trump:
Kamala goes on “60 Minutes,” gave an answer that a child wouldn’t give. It was so bad.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
His three-hour-long interview has been viewed more than 50 million times on YouTube, providing several viral moments that could then be shared in clips across all of social media.
Donald Trump:
You want to start? You go ahead.
Theo Von, Comedian:
Are we rolling?
Laura Barron-Lopez:
A strategy that Trump used repeatedly on the campaign trail.
Donald Trump:
And is that a good feeling?
Theo Von:
No. On comedian Theo Von’s podcast, he discussed drug addiction.
Donald Trump:
With cocaine, more than anything else you can think of.
Theo Von:
Cocaine will turn you into a damn owl, homey.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
He danced with livestreamer Adin Ross.
Donald Trump:
You want a drink?
Laura Barron-Lopez:
And joked around with online pranksters the Nelk Boys on his private jet.
Man:
Well, Mr. President, people surely love it.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
For these online content creators, the focus often isn’t politics, says Internet and culture writer Joshua Citarella.
Joshua Citarella, Host, Doomscroll Podcast:
These are just general men’s interests, sports, comedy, things like this, looking at pictures of attractive women. But if you dig a bit deeper into some of these communities, there are critiques about modernity, women’s liberation, women joining the work force.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
Citarella has been researching and tracking how online spaces, including the so-called manosphere, can shape young people’s political beliefs.
How young are young men, boys when they start interacting with this kind of content?
Joshua Citarella:
By age 13, 14, 15, they are definitely familiar with it through memes and clips on videos. And following that, if you maintain relationships with these people, you see how their world view evolves over that time.
Those implicit ideas that they encountered years ago can later manifest and turn into something that is a real political commitment, in which they may decide to vote a certain way. So those early ideas do turn out to be very impactful years later.
Alex Cooper, Host, “Call Her Daddy”: What is actually happening to abortion access right now in this country?
Laura Barron-Lopez:
While Vice President Harris did repeatedly reach out to voters online, including sitting down with popular podcasters, she faced criticism for not speaking with Joe Rogan, the nation’s most popular one.
Evan Gibeau, College Student:
Talking on a more personal level with somebody like Rogan would have boded well for her.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
Twenty-two-year-old Evan Gibeau is a longtime Joe Rogan listener and a Trump voter.
He says Trump’s interview with Rogan allowed young men to see a different side of the president-elect.
Donald Trump:
I’d give an answer, which was a very good answer. I always talk about I like to give long — the weave. I like to.
Joe Rogan, Host, “The Joe Rogan Experience”: Yes, you like to weave things in.
Evan Gibeau:
And we got to hear a lot of stories that Trump wouldn’t typically say on the road. He uses a lot of rhetoric in his rallies that you really didn’t get on the podcast. And I think it was a refreshing view of Trump.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
Reaching young men who often listen to podcasts and get their news from social media was a deliberate effort by the Trump campaign, says GOP digital strategist Eric Wilson.
Eric Wilson, GOP digital strategist: They had a theory that if you watch cable news, whatever end of the political spectrum you’re on, you already had your mind made up about the candidates and who you were going to vote for.
They went out to these platforms where people might not be as engaged in news and current events to tell them about the election, tell them about the candidate.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
A recent study from the Pew Research Center found that about four in 10 voters under 30 regularly get their news from content creators.
Jeremiah Johnson, Center for New Liberalism: The Republican Party and the Trump campaign put in the effort in this space. They put in the effort, and, frankly, the Democrats did not.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
Jeremiah Johnson is the co-founder of the Center for New Liberalism, an organization that advocates for center-left politics.
He says while Harris’ team dominated the campaign trail in traditional ways, including fund-raising and door-knocking, they made a critical mistake in not doing more online appeals to young men.
Man:
Is this your mug shot?
Donald Trump:
Yes, can you believe it?
Man:
You’re a gangster.
Donald Trump:
This is what we’re reduced to.
Jeremiah Johnson:
Especially in the podcast that young men were watching, Trump was everywhere. And these are friendly spaces for people to kind of have relaxed conversations. And more than just Donald Trump, he was also sending J.D. Vance to do these same podcasts. He was sending Elon Musk and many of his other kind of campaign representatives and ultimately resulted in a national shift to the right politically.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
During these interviews, president-elect Trump was rarely, if ever, fact-checked and influencers themselves at time repeated misinformation. Their format allowed Trump to speak at length and unfiltered.
Ioana Literat, Columbia University:
He didn’t just use these platforms, but he used them well and he understood their cultural dynamics.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
Ioana Literat is an Internet researcher at Columbia University and co-author of “Not Your Parents’ Politics.” She says misinformation spreads easily on these platforms.
Donald Trump:
The transgender operations, where they’re allowed to take your child when he goes to school and turn him into a male, to a female without parental consent.
Ioana Literat:
So if you listen to his speeches or his interviews that he’s done with his different podcasters and streamers, they’re very incendiary, inflammatory. They can be easily packaged into bite-sized content that then can spread, sometimes can even be taken out of context.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
Including, she says, content that reinforces negative stereotypes about women.
Ioana Literat:
So these misogynistic messages that Trump himself often uses, that these streamers use, his podcasters use, his gamers use, they’re really not only received, but reinforced online, and through clicks, through likes, through shares, through comments.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
But for some young men, like Evan Gibeau, these spaces represent something else entirely.
Evan Gibeau:
I think a lot of young conservatives are having to really suppress the amount that they talk, especially in public forum spaces, like on a college campus, because they’re not really socially accepted.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
That sentiment is what Jeremiah Johnson says Democrats urgently need to address.
Jeremiah Johnson:
I think what Democrats have learned in this 2024 election is it’s very, very hard to win an election with just your base. Democrats need to focus on expanding the tent, on welcoming more people into the tent, on not shaming and scolding people until they leave the tent.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
But Joshua Citarella says many young men are still persuadable, and Democrats could even win back those who voted for Trump.
Joshua Citarella:
I have seen people change in their beliefs. The most important thing is participation in this media landscape and having a message that speaks to their experience of the world.
Donald Trump:
What’s a good one?
Man:
The “YMCA,” man, that’s the…
Donald Trump:
Yes, “YMCA” is the best.
Man:
That’s the best one.
Laura Barron-Lopez:
Still, Democrats have catching up to do in an emerging space that’s already shown its power to turn out voters.
For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Laura Barron-Lopez.