The Joe Rogan Fallacy

We're Ignoring the Movement that Brought Trump to Power

This is a telephone. If you’re going to call someone, have something to say.

As the (necessary) Democratic finger pointing, in-fighting, and rancor ramps up, one thread is louder than the rest: Donald Trump won on the back of a superior, omnipresent communications ecosystem that allowed he and his allies to poison the minds of tens of millions of Americans.

Yes. And…

Come with me back to a cold and windy day in Manchester, New Hampshire circa early 2020. On the eve of the primary, then-President Donald Trump was holding a rally at the local civic center. Classic rock blared from giant speakers, dozens of homegrown vendors hocked MAGA gear, and thousands of Trump fans lined up hours early to get a good seat.

Context matters here: Covid wouldn’t shut down the country for several more weeks.

At that point, The Lincoln Project, of which I’m a co-founder, was just a couple months old. Mildly interesting, but far from the NeverTrump juggernaut it would be a few weeks hence.

Wearing my best worn baseball cap, fleece vest, jeans and well-loved boots, I asked people in line why they were supporting Trump. Their answers have left me, but not what struck me that day: No matter whether it was an older couple, middle-aged men and women, or kids from across the border in Vermont, they all recited their reasons as if they’d been faxed to their houses that morning.

Point by point, the answers were the same, in the same order, with the same enthusiasm.

The scope of Donald Trump’s victory last week, and the information sphere that powered it, didn’t begin in 2024. It began not months or even years ago. It began decades ago, and not as the 24/7/365 propaganda leviathan it would become.

As I’ve written (now too many times to count) MAGA is not simply Donald Trump. It is a sophisticated, relentless, well-resourced movement that’s been hard at work for decades.

If the definition of luck is when preparation meets opportunity, than the 50+ years of work done by the Leadership Institute, the Koch Brothers, Leonard Leo, and too many others to mention here, seized their greatest chance at power as Trump descended the escalator.

He needed their money, their backing, their voters, their dedication. In him, the right wing found the vehicle, the empty vessel, that would take them to what they see as the promised land.

So please, stop with the “Democrats need their own Joe Rogan.”

You don’t. We don’t. No one wants or needs that. There’s a reason why most of the Top 10 on Apple podcasts are right-wing or MAGA adjacent. Joe Rogan is popular because he’s popular.

Dan Bongino, Tim Pool, and the rest of the goons that spew crap into microphones everyday are not the beginning of the effort, they’re the end of the funnel. The balance of the movement utilizes their ability to reach tens of millions of Americans every day.

The financiers make sure the money flows to these guys (they’re mostly guys.)

The front groups provide the talking points and data they use to make their arguments (remember ‘truth’ and ‘accuracy’ are not top-line necessities.)

The political wing (in this case the Republican Party) provides guests, politicians, elected officials, and activists keeping the audience feeling like they’re on the inside.

The rest of the ecosystem serves as a self-supporting, interlocking network spreading viral clips around, deep into social media outlets that most (let’s be clear anyone) reading this post have never visited. I can’t blame you for that.

Two years ago, I visited with a major donor to Democratic causes. I laid out the network advantage MAGA enjoys. They asked what it would take to match it. I said, “I could take every one of your billions and I couldn’t replicate it in 10 years.”

Not because it’s impossible to form LLCs, buy microphones, and outfit studios. But because the necessary unifying movement does not exist on what we call the ‘pro-democracy’ side.

Let me provide an illustrative example.

When a Republican president gives a speech, from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, the rest of the GOP, members of Congress, and other associated groups act as if those words were handed down by God.

Then think back to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speeches. Yes there would be a disastrous Republican response. Then other Democrats would give their own rebuttal to whatever Biden had said, complaining about what they didn’t like!

That’s no way to run a railroad.

So as you see Democratic pundits and experts talking about the need to create a podcast network to rival that of Trump and Company, please remind them that communications channels are DOWNSTREAM of everything else. It doesn’t matter if you build a new telephone network if no one has anything to say that makes it worth picking up the phone.

News and Notes

Please check out the latest episode of the Home Front Podcast featuring Congressman Eric Swalwell!

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