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Over the past few weeks, Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump have both made some huge plays to attract specific groups of men: young ones, in Trump’s case, and white ones, in Harris’.
Harris’ supporters have been hosting huge Zoom calls organizing “white dudes,” while Trump’s made appearances on a wide assortment of fratty podcasts and livestreams. The campaigns’ strategies with these voters are completely different, and they’re each creating their own vision for what masculinity could look like in their parties.
Let’s talk about it.
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How Trump and Walz Are Redefining Masculinity
Before this week, Adin Ross, the 23-year-old streamer, had been known for playing NBA 2K, allegedly inadvertently tipping off authorities about accused rapist and human trafficker Andrew Tate’s plans to flee Romania, and getting kicked off Twitch for spewing slurs and hosting the white nationalist Nick Fuentes. This is certainly not the best résumé when applying to become a political commentator, but it was enough for Donald Trump to stream with him for more than an hour at his Mar-a-Lago home on Monday in what equated to a virtual campaign stop, complete with Ross apparently committing a campaign finance violation by gifting Trump with a gaudily-decorated Cybertruck.
The Ross stream is just the latest in a series of streams, podcasts, and TikTok appearances Trump has made with a specific subset of hypermasculine creators who cater to an audience of politically disaffected young men. Trump has long catered to this group, acknowledging their support across fringe parts of the internet in the run-up to his election as president in 2016. But this cycle, he’s engaging with them more directly—appearing, for example, at UFC events—in the apparent belief that this will help turn out younger voters.
The partisan gap between young men and women voters has nearly doubled over the past 25 years, with men growing increasingly more conservative, according to recent polls. With these numbers, you’d think Trump would have little to worry about with this demographic, but some experts suggest that despite this growing divide, the likelihood of young men between the ages of 18 and 29 actually going to the polls might be low.
“He’s trying to pull out base intensity. These young men often don't vote, especially the newcomers to the field,” says Rachel Kleinfeld, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Getting them to care enough to come vote—it's easier if it's something more emotional. All politics runs on emotion.”
She continued: “Most cultures have rites of passage to grow up. It's not an easy thing to do, and we don't in America. And we lost, for a generation, a lot of traditional role models … What we got in their place were these internet influencers and celebrities whom a lot of people aspire to be now.”
Democrats are attempting to create their own contrasting vision for masculinity in light of Trump embracing these creators. Last week, Mike Nellis, a Democratic digital strategist, helped organize the White Dudes for Harris organizing call, where dozens of white male politicians and celebrities spoke to thousands of their white male counterparts about voting for Harris. Throughout the call, many of the speakers—including Harris’ veep pick, Tim Walz—made the case for these same disaffected young men to abandon the Republican Party.
“I think that there are millions and millions of white dudes in this country who are sick and tired of MAGA politics and who reject Project 2025 and need a model and permission structure for something else, and so that’s what we’re doing with White Dudes for Harris,” says Nellis.
Nellis saw Harris’ decision to bring Walz onto her ticket as another play at attracting white male voters. “The guy's a father, and what would be like a ‘real man’ on paper. But here he is supporting and advocating for women's rights. He's campaigning for a woman of color for president. He's talking about ending gun violence,” says Nellis. “There are new models out there, and so I think that there's a fight over what it means to be a man.”
“We've had a cultural problem with young men for a number of years that is now becoming a political problem, and both parties are recognizing it,” says Kleinfeld.
Back in 2019, I profiled a YouTuber named Joey Salads who was running for a Staten Island House seat against Nicole Malliotakis. He never stood a chance at winning, but his Instagram model girlfriend, nice cars, and 10 million followers convinced him he had a shot. Salads admired Trump, seeing him as someone for whom the rules also did not apply in the pursuit of money and success.
4chan incels and hypermasculine YouTube pranksters had been viewing Trump as a role model even before the former president was elected. In 2024, those influencers and brainrotted forum posters have more influence than ever, and they’re paying it forward to the man who made it all possible.
“In a way, they’re kind of like post-incels, having overcome some of their inceldom with fame and followers but retaining the resentments and insecurities that get expressed in bizarre ways,” Jack Z. Bratich, a communications expert and professor at Rutgers University, tells me. “It’s possible Trump’s campaign is trying to extend their reach with these types, or else they are just seeking to increase the voting numbers of young men and happen to have stumbled upon this new mutation of online youth.”
Around 49 percent of young white men voted in the 2020 election, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics. That’s a nine point increase from 2016.
The Chatroom
Thank you to everyone who has written in with such thoughtful responses to my last newsletter. I really appreciate the questions and being able to speak with some of you directly.
For this week, I want to hear what you think about how Republicans and Democrats are reaching young men this election cycle. Have you had any conversations with people in your life who have convinced you that it’s working? Is there something else they should be doing?
Send me an email at mail@wired.com, or reach out on social media. You can find links to my accounts below.
WIRED Reads
- Elon Musk Has Turned X Into His Personal Political Playground: By posting deepfakes and boosting outlandish conspiracy theories, Elon Musk is using X as a political cudgel.
- Kamala Harris’ Campaign Is a Windfall for Influencers: Progressive influencers have been experiencing higher views and engagement on their social content since Harris overtook Biden as their party’s nominee.
- X Is Boosting the Far Right’s UK Riots as Telegram Scrambles for Control: Telegram is blocking violent rhetoric related to the violent far-right protests across the UK. Musk’s X is platforming it.
Want more? Subscribe now for unlimited access to WIRED.
What Else We’re Reading
🔗 J.D. Vance in texts with far-right figure: Profane and off-the-cuff: In private messages with far-right conspiracist Chuck Johnson, Vance is shown requesting advice on talking points related to UFOs, Israel, and even the death of Jeffrey Epstein. (Washington Post)
🔗 The self-proclaimed GOAT of cybersquatting sold HarrisWalz.com for $15k: A serial cybersquatter bought the HarrisWalz.com domain, prompting the Harris campaign to shell out $15,000 for him to hand it over. (NPR)
🔗 What Does Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Actually Want?: Please read this entire profile of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by Clare Malone. Yes, it’s the bear profile, but there’s plenty of other good stuff in it too. (New Yorker)
The Download
Leah and David are on the podcast this week interviewing CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan and discussing an upcoming episode of his documentary series MisinfoNation, in which he speaks to Trump supporters after July’s assassination attempt about their perspectives on the election. You can hear it wherever you listen to podcasts!
That’s it for now—thanks again for subscribing. You can send tips and feedback to me via email, Instagram, X and Signal at makenakelly.32.
