MAGA Influencers Take the Badge with Big Tech and Take Victory Laps

At the TikTok-sponsored Power 30 night, conservative content creators leaned on their newfound patrons and danced to hours of Top 40 hits in “Make America Great Again” hats with TikTok-branded headphones. At another TikTok-sponsored party Saturday night at the Capital One arena, conservative creators bought company merchandise, such as koozies with graphics of Trump dancing in the company’s pink and blue colors or headphones. (Behind the scenes, TikTok he seemed to be in a panic. The app was taken offline on Saturday night before the alleged ban, however he returned on sunday and sent a notice to its users that it would keep the app after Trump takes office.)

“One of the best parts about my job is actually spending time with our YouTube Creators because they really define the culture,” YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said in a statement after the company’s creators event on Sunday. “They’re experimenting with new ideas in the media landscape, and it’s been amazing to sit in the front row this past year.”

At Sunday’s influencer awards night, Trump campaign adviser Alex Bruesewitz, the architect of this winning influencer and online-focused strategy, received an award for his digital contributions. Years before joining Trump’s team, Bruesewitz ran X Strategies, a political media agency that worked with young, online political candidates like Matt Gaetz. Published in 2022 Winning the social media war: How conservatives can fight back, reclaim the narrative, and turn the tide against the leftA book that teaches Republicans how to use social media to win elections.

In 2022, Bruesewitz wrote: “Social media has created a whole new battleground for us. We have to respond, make them listen and reopen the market.”

Bruesewitz saw potential podcasts should reach voters who may not already be hearing Trump’s message. Podcasts played a big role in Trump’s election, providing him with a massive audience that Bruesewitz describes as “middle- and low-propensity male voters.” in a WIRED interview after the election. Those voters, who Bruesewitz said don’t typically use the mainstream media, secured the win.

Others agreed: Shapiro told WIRED on Sunday that the podcasts “provide a window into the authenticity of the candidates.”

And according to Pearson, this year’s takeover of conservative influencers is just the beginning.

Over the summer, Pearson hosted an event with the Heritage Foundation to train more than two dozen conservative creatives on how to communicate their policies to voters online. Savannah Chrisley, Sean Mike Kelly and Emily Saves America, some of whom joined the Turning Point USA Ambassador program.

Since 2019, Turning Point has been hiring and training at least 400 conservative influencers in what is essentially an incubator. Some of the most prominent influencers on the right have come out of Turning Point’s program, including Alex Clark, Benny Johnson, and Candace Owens. Training is typically held at national summits of Turning Point executives such as Charlie Kirk and Tyler Bowyer. teach participants to write. Once an influencer is enrolled in Turning Point’s influencer program, the organization’s public relations team actively delivers them to producers at networks like Fox News. They are invited to special events that feature speakers (including Trump and Tucker Carlson) and allow creators to network and collaborate to grow their audience.