'Edgelords' and 'butt-sniffers': will Trump's tour of hyper-masculine podcasts win over young men?

[dalton99a]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/08/donald-trump-adin-ross-young-men

‘Edgelords’ and ‘butt-sniffers’: will Trump’s tour of hyper-masculine podcasts win over young men?
The ex-president is chatting with Logan Paul, Adin Ross and others with vast followings as the demographic shifts right
Arwa Mahdawi
Thu 8 Aug 2024 09.00 EDT

Donald Trump may be falling behind in the polls, but the former president is planning a comeback utilizing a secret weapon: edgelord influencers. In a bid to win over young male voters, the Trump campaign has been cozying up to controversial online streamers and podcasters who trade in stunts and testosterone.

In June, for example, Trump sat down with Logan Paul for a podcast interview in which the pair talked about alien life forms. Last week, JD Vance made his TikTok debut alongside the Nelk Boys, a Canadian YouTube collective who have collaborated with the self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate. Then on Monday, apparently on the advice of his 18-year-old son Barron, who told his father Ross was “really big”, Trump livestreamed a 90-minute interview with Adin Ross. Trump told Ross that America was a “drug-addicted, crime-infested nation” and called Kamala Harris “strange”. The pair also talked about how the rapper Young Thug was being treated unfairly by the legal system and Ross suggested that Trump might want to call in some favors to make sure he gets treated OK. Then they did a little dance together.

Who is Ross, other than someone Barron Trump thinks is cool? Well, it’s hard to explain his career trajectory in a way that doesn’t sound completely unhinged, but essentially the 23-year-old rose to fame by playing video games such as NBA 2K on Twitch (he’s since been banned from that platform after consistently allowing hateful unmoderated content in the chat, and now streams on Kick, a less moderated and more rightwing-friendly alternative).

He then launched into a broader content creation strategy that involved him making a bunch of homophobic jokes and trolling celebrities. “A big part of Adin Ross’ whole persona is that he jokes about being gay in front of his celebrity guests and uploads videos of himself being ‘sus’ around them,” a 2021 Complex profile on Ross explains.

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Weirdo and his incels

[Solly Mack]

1. Well, that tells us all we need to know about Barron Trump.

[dalton99a]

2. +1. Fascist doesn't fall far from the tree

[Solly Mack]

3. That and no couch is safe around these people.

[yardwork]

4. Trump Vance already have the incel vote.

They've had the incel group sewn up, this tactic won't expand their base.

[RAB910]

7. The only young men attracted to the weirdos are incels and losers

[yardwork]

10. Did you read about Vance's "rally" in Philly?

Apparently a few hundred incels and old men in raincoats showed up.

[central scrutinizer]

5. Incels vs, Swifties

I know who I’d bet on

[GoCubsGo]

6. The "butt-sniffers" thing is literal, too.

I believe they're referring to that Ross twerp here. He's known for sniffing couches and chairs after famous people sat there. Talk about "strange."

[JanMichael]

8. He does what? Also what d list celebrity would sit down with that git?

[angrychair]

9. First and foremost

YUK!
More importantly, what "famous people" are showing up on this rightwing incel's podcast? I think there is a whole lot of levity in the use of the word "famous".

[DFab420]

11. The target audience of these "influencers" are 12 to 16 year old men who are processing testosterone for the first time

Most of them age out of their ridiculousness once they realize the harm the behavior online has for them in public. All Trump is doing is garnering views from people ineligible to vote who think they’re being funny and ironic and contrarian

[GaYellowDawg]

12. I hate those influencers.

Absolutely loathe them. It's difficult enough to raise a teenage boy without those shitheads feeding them their misogynist toxic masculinity bullshit. I've already told him that girls his age have more sense than he thinks and if his life goal is to be alone, just believe in what Andrew Tate and his ilk are pushing.

[DFab420]

15. Amen. Some of my cousins kids are that age and any time we spend together I feel like I need to help deprogram

Them from the nonsense about sigma males and rizz and prime energy etc.

It’s ridiculous.

[Clouds Passing]

13. Men acting juvenile is not masculine.

[cpamomfromtexas]

14. These wierdos, incels, rapist types just advertising

What losers they are.