Summary
Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory, influenced by support from podcasters like Joe Rogan, has sparked debate among Democrats about creating a left-leaning equivalent.
Rogan, whose show reaches 14.5 million listeners (80% male, largely independents or Republicans), endorsed Trump and hosted figures like JD Vance and Elon Musk.
Critics argue Democrats lack a comparable media ecosystem due to limited funding from megadonors, who oppose progressive policies.
Others suggest Democrats need to focus on appealing policies for independent-minded voters rather than trying to replicate Rogan’s media influence.
There is, and has been, a large number of left-wing podcasts. But the Dems don’t want to pump money into Chapo Trap House, Five-Four, or the Cool Zone network. They want Ezra Klein to be as cool as Rogan.
They refuse to meet people at their level, and its killing the party.
Yeah but I also absolutely can’t imagine any of these people going hard dem unless the Dems go hard left. Now I do think that a lot of the cracked folks, can be the left wing voices to alienated men, and I’ve noticed Robert Evans has been trying to be a voice of that for a long time (and serious kudos to him for it).
I also think that we only have one major left wing voice that has ever been particularly good at breaking people out of the alt right pipeline, Contrapoints, and I think we’d seriously benefit from encouraging further use of her tactics.