On an August 5 livestream, as half a million viewers tuned in, Adin Ross gifted former President Trump a gold Rolex and a Tesla Cybertruck. The truck was customized, with the now-immortalized picture of Trump, ear bloodied and fist raised after shots were fired at a rally of his in Pennsylvania earlier this summer on each side, and “Make America Great Again” plastered across the hood.
The streaming platform Twitch, where Ross started his career, banned the content creator from the site last year after multiple instances of homophobia and “hateful content”. But Ross simply took his mostly young, male, and right-wing audience to Kick, another streaming service, with little consequence. These are exactly the folks Trump is appealing to.
Adin Ross’ Young Audience Appeals to Trump
Ross has had his fair share of controversial guests on his streams – white supremacist Nick Fuentes and accused rapist and human trafficker Andrew Tate, to name a few. Just as Kamala Harris is appealing to Gen-Z on TikTok, Trump is trying his hand with streamers and “podcasts bros,” an increasingly hateful side of the internet. “There’s a lot of people who are first time voters watching today,” said the 23-year-old Ross during his stream with Trump. “I want to make it very clear to everyone that you’re a human being.”
According to a July traffic analysis of kick.com, 75.6% of site users are men, and 37.78% are aged 18-24. The stats for Twitch are similar. As Vice President Harris rises in the polls, Trump is sinking to new standards, even for him. He is throwing away the independent and moderate vote. Comments the former president has made as of late, for which he refuses to take accountability, have appalled even folks on the right. Instead, Trump is focusing on those most vulnerable to his repeated lies: Gen-Z. If nothing more, this is a glaringly clear reflection of his character.
Trump’s New Friends Consistently Cross Legal Lines
Trump is making inroads with others who fall into this, for lack of a better word, fratty content category. In June, he appeared on influencer-turned-wrestler and energy drink entrepreneur Logan Paul’s podcast. But controversy riddles Paul’s career. He most notably filmed and uploaded himself and his friends finding a corpse at a well-known suicide site in Japan. More recently, he promoted a scam called CryptoZoo and failed to compensate more than $1.5 million to investors. Another company he co-owns is being investigated for “multi-layered fraud” by the Canadian government.
Not to mention, Brendan Fischer, a deputy executive director at watchdog group Documented, told the New York Times, “when Trump gets off the [Adin Ross] livestream and talks to his lawyers, he’ll be advised he can’t accept [Ross’] gifts.” High-end wraps of Cybertrucks cost more than $100,000. Gold Rolexs go for tens of thousands. The federal limit for individual campaign contributions is $3,300 per election cycle. “What conclusion can you come to other than that this is an illegal and excessive campaign contribution?” asked Fischer.
People Like the Paul Brothers Don’t Ask Trump Too Many Questions
Adin Ross, the Paul brothers, and Canadian YouTubers The Nelk Boys, whom Trump has twice granted interviews, have more in common than their mind-numbing internet content. They all provide a completely open platform for Trump to spew falsehoods without pushback. “Damn, that’s crazy to think about,” was pretty much all Ross was able to say back to the former President during their chat. Logan Paul questioned Trump over his knowledge of aliens, to which the former president replied, “It’s very possible.”
“I think Trump, in particular, enjoys dipshit outreach because (1) the interviewers love him, and (2) he is himself manifestly the same kind of dramatic, gossipy, maldeveloped, attention-seeking nuisance as the creators who populate greater dipshit media economy.”
Journalist Max Read, who coined this media strategy “dipshit outreach” in a recent newsletter
Those who tune into political happenings in this country have become numb to this sort of bizarre content from Trump and his running mate, JD Vance. But the youngest voters in this country, many of whom are not as tuned in, are now being force-fed these lies from their favorite internet creators, a dangerous trend. A new voter PAC, Send the Vote, featuring The Nelk Boys and multiple UFC fighters, has $20 million in funding already. 40% alone of the UFC’s fanbase is 18-34 year-old men. This is a calculated move.
Elon Musk: A Dangerous Ringleader Desperate for Power
While Elon Musk remains one of the least charismatic people on the internet, he has access to a terrifying amount of power among “the greater dipshit media economy,” as Max Read would say. Musk, currently the richest man in the world, shared links to Trump’s aforementioned interview with Logan Paul in June and had his own chat with the former president that aired on X earlier this month. Although the livestream was marred with technical difficulties, Musk similarly never challenged Trump in his falsities, such as his assertion that the price of bacon has risen four or five times over, or that Biden dropping off the ticket was a “coup”.
Trump reversed his position on electric vehicles once he received Musk’s endorsement. He needs Musk’s money, clearly, but this is a malleable, immoral narcissist we’re talking about. Trump still thinks Musk is a “boring weirdo,” according to reporting by Rolling Stone, an insight into how he thinks about his campaign strategy. Deception for his own benefit of those who he genuinely thinks quite little of seems to be top of mind. Not that anyone’s takeaway should be to feel sorry for Musk or other “dipshit creators”, because believe me, they are reaping the benefits as well. But Trump is not here to mend bridges. He would rather spend his time conning the youth of America.
