How Trump lost the podcast bros

Six months into Donald Trump’s second term, the “manosphere” — an ecosystem of right-leaning podcasts and YouTube shows that helped elect him — appears to be losing some of its enthusiasm for him.

Many of these hosts, who appeal to a young, male, and politically disengaged audience, now seem less excited about the administration’s actions and focus. While some remain loyal, others are more critical or have shifted away from politics entirely. This fragmentation could pose a challenge for Trump, the MAGA movement, and the Republican Party in future elections as they try to hold together the unconventional coalition of voters that helped him win reelection.

With tens of millions of listeners, these podcasts have a significant reach. They frequently top podcast charts and attract a large audience, particularly among men. Recent data shows that the share of podcast listeners who identify as Republican has been growing, and millions more Americans becoming regular podcast consumers, making these hosts’ shifts in loyalty and tone all the more important.

2.2 million subscribers (8.4 million on their YouTube prank channel); pranks, pop culture, and sports; weekly

The fratty young Canadian and American men of the Full Send Podcast, Kyle Forgeard and Aaron “Steiny” Steinberg, part of the prank group called the Nelk Boys, are two of Trump’s most loyal podcasters. The Nelk group began their media and entertainment business as party-boy influencers, known as early as 2020 as “the most recognizable personalities for young people in North America,” when they gained notoriety for hosting parties during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. And they built on that brand of performative hypermasculinity, organizing “brotests” to reopen gyms, traveling across the US and essentially taking contrarianism as far as they could. One fan told the Toronto Star back in 2020 that “a large part of ‘Nelk’ is not listening” and not following rules.

That spirit brought them millions of followers, views, and financial success through partnerships, promotions, and subscriptions. And through their vlogging and prank videos, they have been able to mainstream and promote a variety of right-leaning and far-right commentators on their show, leading to accusations of “extreme misogyny” and bigotry.

Over the last few years, Forgeard and his collaborators have interviewed Trump repeatedly and talked with him and JD Vance during the 2024 campaign. Trump, in turn, has shouted the boys out in speeches and praised them and their work, noting in 2023 that many in the political and media establishment “don’t realize that the NELK boys are probably a lot more powerful than them.”

Since January, they’ve been more or less supportive of Trump — praising his foreign policy and negotiating over the Russia-Ukraine war. Still, more recently, they have said that they want “to maybe stay out of politics for a little bit because we just want to have fun, too,” after getting intense criticism for interviewing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

2.69 million subscribers; current events and business; two to three times each week

Hosted by businessman Patrick Bet-David in a panel-style discussion with three to four co-hosts, PBD Podcast tends to talk about all kinds of current events, ranging from celebrity news to hard politics. Trump has appeared on the show before, visiting Bet-David during the 2024 campaign, and Bet-David has called himself a staunch Trump ally.

Though the shows feature some debate over Trump’s policies, those conversations tend to end by criticizing Democrats and boosting the Trump stance. During the rollout of “Liberation Day” tariffs in spring, for example, the panel was torn and confused about the impact of tariffs on the global markets, before criticizing the Federal Reserve and endorsing Trump’s negotiations. Similarly, they have long praised Trump’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, calling Trump an “alpha” male for his treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders. And they show no signs of slowing their support soon.

20 million subscribers; interviews, commentary; about four times per week

The biggest podcaster in the world wasn’t always a Trump fan, but became one over the course of the last five years as his show became one of the most influential platforms for politicians, celebrities, thinkers, and more. Rogan’s October Trump interview broke records (it’s been viewed 60 million times now) and kicked off a frenzy on the Democratic side when he didn’t agree to the terms set by Kamala Harris’s campaign to get her on the show.

Over the last few months, however, Rogan’s support for Trump has been much more muted. He’s been critical of tariffs, government censorship and pseudo-policing language, the extent to which mass deportations are being carried out, and, more recently, the obfuscation over the supposed Epstein files and the administration “gaslighting” supporters. The podcaster sounds more jaded. As opposed to becoming a full-throated critic, he seems less enthusiastic about the president’s embrace of big tech CEOs, the lack of promised transparency by the administration on things like government spending, censorship, and the Epstein case. Instead, Rogan demonstrates disillusionment and disengagement.

4.1 million subscribers; comedy and interviews; about twice a week

Theo Von, the comedian and host of This Past Weekend, has started to split with Trump more visibly over the Epstein episode. Von used to be a bigger Trump fan; he hosted Trump a year ago, when in the span of a week he talked to both Trump and Bernie Sanders, and this May, he delivered a stand-up set during Trump’s visit to a Qatari American military base.

Yet, Von seems to be a lot more skeptical of Trump this summer — criticizing his tariffs, America’s involvement in the Middle East by attacking Iran, American support for Israel and “helping” support a “genocide in Gaza,” and the administration’s response to calls for transparency on the Epstein case.

Von himself has started to host Trump critics, having on Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to discuss the Epstein case, and using social media to criticize Vance (a former guest of Von’s) for reneging on his promise to “release” the Epstein files. In more recent episodes of his show, Von sounds more muted about Trump — still hosting conversations with a variety of guests and telling jokes but also talking about how “corrupt” the “system” is, how nothing really seems to be changing, and how depressing politics is.

2 million subscribers; comedy and interviews; weekly

The host of the Flagrant comedy podcast, Andrew Schulz, is disillusioned with Trump, but much more vocally. Schulz was a big Trump supporter in the past, also hosting him on his show in 2024. Schulz has now turned into Trump’s loudest former-fan-turned-critic in this universe. The sharp break came in July, during the Epstein debacle, when he began to express more regret for his Trump support, saying that, “If I wanted to vote for somebody that was going to keep the Epstein files under wrap, that was going to extend the foreign wars and was going to increase the budget, I would have voted for Kamala.” And he is communicating a lot of what new 2024 Trump voters who weren’t huge supporters of the president have been saying in polling. “Everything he campaigned on I believe he wanted to do, and now he’s doing the exact opposite thing of every single fucking thing,” Schulz said in July.

Schulz, like Von, has started to host more liberal and Trump-critical voices: Sanders, Khanna, Pete Buttigieg, the Pod Save America hosts, and the journalist Ezra Klein (a Vox co-founder). He now teases himself for his past support for Trump and has essentially turned his show into a vehicle for those expressing regret over their Trump support to feel better about looking for other options.

As Schulz said recently, Democrats have an opportunity to win back voters like him. “You have an opportunity to be like, hey, we told you he was a liar. Here’s the proof that he’s a liar. Come over here, here are some ideas that might be better. You might like these. If you just go, hey, fuck you, you’re dumb, the people that are called dumb are never goingwo to come to your side.”

A handful of podcasters and influencers have pulled back from discussing current events and politics, or if they delve into Trump-related topics, they do so carefully. Shawn Ryan (4.8 million subscribers) and Lex Fridman (4.79 million subscribers), for example, host interview shows that delve into hyper-specific and niche topics with guests who don’t talk too much about political news of the day, but they both conducted softball interviews with Trump last autumn.

Both have continued speaking with businessmen, authors, former military officers, historians, and thinkers since the election but have not been vocal defenders or commentators on Trump’s presidency so far. Fridman interviewed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but they only talked about Trump in passing for a few moments, and it was never critical. The same situation applies to Ryan, who also interviewed Vance last year, but hasn’t talked much about the Epstein debacle, tariffs, or immigration.

Two other big Trump supporters have pulled back from political discussions and promoting Trump. Adin Ross (4.6 million) and Logan Paul (4.8 million) both interviewed Trump last year but pivoted back to their original style of video livestreaming pranks, commentary on internet culture, and challenges (like Ross having his back waxed on a livestream with MrBeast).

The shifting loyalties within the manosphere could be a sign of broader changes among the young, male voters who helped elect Trump — the current tensions at least suggest early challenges to the durability of the president’s coalition. Still, it remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will actively work to win back the support of these creators and their audiences — he hasn’t returned to most of these shows since taking office.