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If you’re wondering why young people are trending right it’s because youth orgs on the left are struggling to keep the lights on meanwhile TurningPoint and Charlie Kirk have enough money to waste on events in schools that vote 80% Democratic.

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This is a vast problem Also with 20's and 30's Look at all of the protest footage A very few sparsely sprinkled in And often - none at all It is older people - much older people We are not reaching them And we will NOT be able to restore Our nation Unless we do IMMEDIATELY And Extensively

And also bc the parents of these kids were/are content to let the internet raise them. And don’t come at me about this bc all you have to do is look around the next time you’re in public.

Dems differ on some issues but they act as an opposition only on paper and in speeches. These 100 days are History book worthy examples of Reps ruling without opposition.

Kayla Gogarty did some great reporting on the dominance of the right in online media. Young voters aren't getting most of their news from MSNBC and the NYT. The siren song of do what you want libertarianism is particularly strong among young disaffected men. www.mediamatters.org/google/right...

mediamatters.orgThe right dominates the online media ecosystem, seeping into sports, comedy, and other supposedly nonpolitical spacesAs Americans increasingly get their news from online shows and streamers, the influence of this media ecosystem becomes more prominent — and Media Matters has found that the most popular of this content is overwhelmingly right-leaning.In a new study, Media Matters assessed the audience size of popular online shows — podcasts, streams, and other long-form audio and video content regularly posted online. To do so, we gathered data on the number of followers, subscribers, and views across streaming platforms (YouTube, Spotify, Rumble, Twitch, and Kick) and social media platforms that are used to amplify and promote these shows (Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok). Apple Podcasts does not publicly provide follower counts on its platform, so it was not included in the audience data.This analysis was based on 320 online shows with a right-leaning or left-leaning ideological bent. We found that right-leaning online shows dominate the ecosystem, with substantially larger audiences on both politics/news shows and supposedly nonpolitical shows that we determined often platformed ideological content or guests.Key findings:We found 320 online shows — 191 right-leaning and 129 left-leaning — that were active in 2024 and covered news and politics and/or had related guests. These shows had at least 584.6 million total followers and subscribers.We found substantial asymmetry in total following across platforms: Right-leaning online shows had at least 480.6 million total followers and subscribers — nearly five times as many as left-leaning.Across platforms — YouTube, Rumble, Twitch, Kick, Spotify, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok — right-leaning online shows accounted for roughly 82% of the total following of the online shows we assessed.Comparatively, left-leaning online shows had nearly 104 million followers and subscribers across the eight platforms — nearly five times less.Nine out of the 10 online shows with the largest followings across platforms were right-leaning, with a total following of more than 197 million. The only left-leaning show among the top 10 was What Now? with Trevor Noah, which had 21.1 million total followers and subscribers across platforms.Our analysis — which looked entirely at shows with an ideological bent — found over a third self-identify as nonpolitical, even though 72% of those shows were determined to be right-leaning. Instead, these shows describe themselves as comedy, entertainment, sports, or put themselves in other supposedly nonpolitical categories.Out of 320 online shows, right-leaning programs categorized as comedy — 15 shows in all — had 117.5 million followers and subscribers, or 20% of the total following of all programs we assessed. This category included The Joe Rogan Experience, This Past Weekend with Theo Von, and Full Send Podcast.Right-leaning shows accounted for two-thirds of the total YouTube views on videos from channels affiliated with the shows we assessed — 65 billion views in total. Comparatively, left-leaning online shows totaled 31.5 billion total views.Right-leaning shows use Rumble to expand their audience — gaining millions of subscribers and billions of views for their content.

A big part of how they dominate media is through money, they spend inordinate amounts to recruit, develop, and promote talent, not all of which is political. Dems are starting to work on developing political content creators, we’re still nowhere near building the machine they have on the right.

Absolutely true, the tech media moguls, can afford to flood the market that they control and it doesn't hurt that Russia is willing to chip in because it furthers their anti-democratic ambitions.

Politics is also a huge turnoff for too many younger people. They view the mess and want little to do with it. They are more susceptible to the right’s tactics that tap into emotion & fear. Activism & liberal thought is fueled by reason & concern for others. It’s is a much harder sell.

It’s not about how smart someone is, it’s about exploiting their vulnerabilities to get them on your side. The right thrives at it. The left can barely afford to shore up its strongholds.

My daughter told me she was annoyed by all the “Classically Abby” posts. Abby is Ben Shapiro’s sister being pushed to a bisexual liberal. For a while, I could not get YouTube to stop suggesting PragerU ads. They have money to burn.

I also keep getting Prager U and Charlie Kirk ad. I keep asking to block those and it has never stopped. I am really annoyed. I cannot stand those right wing Christian as*holes and I don’t need to see them when I try to find world events on my free time.

There’s a few of us. I work at @votersoftomorrow.org which is a Gen Z-led group, we aim to always be talking to the youngest of voters. There’s also NextGen, Student Turnout Project, Alliance for Youth Action, Sunrise, and March for Our Lives, all youth-led/focused and with a presence on campuses.

Yes, conservative, right wing, anti-democracy fascism, elite establishment plutocracy, and Christo-fascism is where the big money is at in US politics. One supposes they're destined to be vastly better funded in a country like the USA with its enormous imbalances and disparities of economic power.

The only real answer now is better education, give people the critical thinking skills to allow them to detect and recognize more sensible voices. But we've apparently failed in that area, and we're moving ever further the wrong way very quickly indeed. Unfortunate, but a long time in the making.

It’s a mix of factors. Largely an information overload that leads many young people to tune out. Side effect of having all of the world’s information at your fingerprints is that you also have all of the world’s problems staring at you in the face.

This has been a problem on the left since forever. On the right, they fund the dumbest young people they can find & promote them. On the left, they have the smartest young people & pay them so little that eventually they have to go find "real" jobs if they ever want to buy a home or have children.

This was also the case last year, FYI. TPUSA and other far-right youth orgs spent over $1.2B last in the 2024 cycle. That’s almost 10x as much as youth orgs on the left did.

It’s not just about ideology — it’s about infrastructure. The right is investing heavily in youth outreach while left-leaning orgs are left scrambling for scraps. If we don’t fund the fight, we risk losing the next generation.

Indeed, that's why they spent so much time complaining about liberal bias excluding them from college campuses. Not because it was actually _there_ to any significant degree but because it gave them a "casus belli", and helped them raise the funding to start inserting themselves into those spaces.

Why will billions of dollars never convince me to vote R? Because of the policies they vote for. Why will I never donate to D orgs? Because of the policies they vote for. I have to believe that policy is as or more effective than propaganda. Get some fighters for progress and I’ll donate.

And yes, I held my nose and *voted* D. My point is you can make this a propaganda fight and lose to the rich who can and do play both sides to their advantage, OR You can fight a policy fight and maybe have a chance.

This assumes that the general electorate has the capacity to understand the fundamental policy arguments. Not sure that's the case. As an example, I'll point to people liking the benefits of the PPACA, but actively raging against "Obamacare". You have to pierce the propaganda to get to the policy.

I'd propose that good policy doesn't require that people understand the policy through propaganda, but through their experience with the policy. The ACA was net good when compared to what was before it, but it's a bad public health policy. Hence people don't care or don't understand it.

This is certainly part of it, but that will always be the case and there are other factors here. Big money comes out for people who believe that the rich should get richer and the poor should be happy about it or distracted. Why would oligarchs pay for anti-capitalist groups? DNC =/= left.

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Can I make a point here? Leftists will never be able to put this much money into this kinda thing, because real leftists don't desire wealth enough to chase billionaire status, and the ability to waste money on events in the same way. Another fundamental rightward skew of capitalism.

It’s a valid point, but to be clear here, I just don’t mean the explicitly leftist organizations. They’re outspending the whole left-to-center-left youth space by a factor of 10.

One way to keep or bring back younger and millennial voters is for rich liberals to help the 5.3millons federal student loan borrowers that are in default on those loans. They are 25-49 years old and just think if they paid 12 peoples debt what that could do for our country.

And they think that, largely, because they’ve been hit with tens of millions of dollars worth of propaganda that conditioned them to believe that. It’s a massive problem.

Agree. Dems need to convince these boys that keeping your word, working hard, and being a good partner and decent father is what true masculinity is. It’s not trolling others, cheating on taxes, cheating on your partner, and not caring for your kids - which is everything Trumpism represents.

This shift is primarily among impressionable young men. Both Rogan & Kirk peddle right-wing radicalism disguised as toxic masculinity. Young men, in particular, are easily swayed by their b.s. There are no left-leaning equivalents that can grab that demographic. It's time to start.

We’re already seeing a shift, the generic ballot shows young voters backing Democrats 2:1. But the propaganda machine is just warming up. It caught us by surprise last time, I’m trying to make sure we’ll be ready this time.

I became aware of the problem at Valley High School in Vegas when our foster came home from school with a TPM brochure. I had to explain who they really are and you can imagine how that convo went

Unfortunately, Democrats have to rely on volunteers to do this kind of work and it’s just not realistic at this time. They turn to paid consultants who are very vocal but ineffective at getting feet on the streets. We need people in spaces like schools, churches, clubs, and society in general.

If there was a way to compensate people for their participation in the process, perhaps not directly in cash, but through access to resources and a plan that details how their lives would improve by voting for their local Democrat, that missing 30% might show up.

Finally, most people don’t even know there is a Democratic Party Central Committee in their county. Most people don’t know how any of this works and that they can directly participate in the process. Maybe I am spoiled in NV where I have met and talked with all our elected officials in Washington.

this is huge concern- the network that the likes of koch, bradley, mercer, thiel, & add in all the tech bros & religious groups- massive amounts of $ to shape narratives & views- truth be damned…

Why is there no cooperation with fundraising machines like ActBlue and the DNC? I’d wager that you’re doing a lot more to get the voters out than Corey Booker and his 25 hour monologue.

ActBlue is simply a payment processor (the one many of us use actually)! The DNC is tasked with funding a lot of stuff, so only a portion of their money goes to youth. That’s the challenge, the $1.2B the right spent on youth was ON TOP of however much the Trump camp and RNC spent. It’s wild.

I gave democrats $14,000 in the last cycle. I’m not wealthy so I can’t really afford to do that again. Kamala had a billion dollars and they still stole the election from her. More money isn’t the answer.

I get this, and wouldn’t ask you to give more. But I do want to clarify — the money you gave to Kamala was used by Kamala and the DNC. Youth groups fundraise spend individually. The $1.2B Kirk & Co. spent on youth were on top of whatever Trump and the RNC spent on their own efforts.

Is an underlying reason for this that big donors feel youth on the left are all too far left thus a risk to empower? Probably also decades of taking the youth vote for granted, I’d guess.

To be fair, I don’t necessarily think changing who controls the party itself would solve this. The Harris Victory Fund raised about $1.3B. The Trump campaign raised about the same. Far-right youth groups raised an ADDITIONAL $1.2B to spent on youth. Us on the left only raised 1/10th of that.

I wish it was this simple. Charlie & Co. got $1.2B completely independently of the RNC. They spent that ON TOP of all the money Trump and the RNC spent. It’s crazy amounts that we just can’t match.

They’re literally creating their own schools and curricula. PragerU literally provides resources to some school districts. They’re shitting money and chasing after the youth while left-wing orgs are trying to stay alive.

Exactly. It’s awful. And it’s been a very long time in the planning and execution. Katherine Stewart lays it out quite clearly - she spoke here recently and I’d had no idea how they were indoctrinating grammar school kids.

And the worst part is that we’ve been ringing the alarm. I remember telling folks we’d have issues with young folks in 2024 as early as the pandemic. I thought we’d be able to fend it off, but I didn’t expect to be fighting a $1.2B machine.

At our meetings, rallies, protests, etc. the number 1 question is “where are the young people”? Not judging them - their reality and sense of history is different than us older people. I’m know a lot of education takes money but what about your groups speak at other groups? We’d host that

What about the opposite approach: Stretch the dollars Dem groups have to put on numbers-focused spectacles, not flashy productions that take lots of money and have 1-2 big names. Low cost, high impact events that look good on socials. Think town halls, parades, protests, events that send a message

This strategy, plus a coherent, positive, future-focused message. Essentially, Dems need guerrilla tactics to defeat the MAGA invasion of the US. It’s difficult to say this, but asymmetric strategies and tactics have worked pretty well against better-funded invading forces, historically.

What are some of the organizations that we can boost? Let’s spread the links and information about their projects. I’m happy to add them to my personal list of organizations to donate to. A lot of us have low incomes but small donations add up.

Prop up Dean Withers. Charlie Kirk is a has been with a played out message The youth just need to be shown this. Dean and those like him will be the voices that pull young america back to reason and decency from the grassroots up.

It’s so obvious: instead of BEING PROUD & talking about Biden’s economy & Policies, they let Republicans goad them into keeping quiet about Biden’s GOOD POLICIES! Instead TOOK THE BAIT & defended Immigration, instead of calling Republicans LIARS & showing PROOF that Dems deport more Immigrants.

Dems have also FORGOTTEN ONE RULE the Republicans HAVEN’T: no matter what SHOW A UNITED FRONT! If our Dem Leaders can’t get along, then How do they expect THEIR FOLLOWERS to get along? They’re STILL FORGETTING that Rule! They need to show STRENGTH IN NUMBERS, Not being Against Their OWN!

That’s not the Reasons! Republicans have brainwashed their Voters that Dems are the RADICAL ONES & that if they’re pushing back, THAT’S PROOF! Which convinced Dems to be calm, to stop being so progressive because Ppl don’t like it. Dem Leaders believed it too INSTEAD OF FIGHTING FOR THEIR VOTERS.

Great. Let's change it. We all know the system is NOT balanced. HOW are we planning to change it. Respectfully, many of us are tired of being spoken to like we don't know what's going on. Many of us have been saying these things for years. HOW will we change it? What will YOU do to help'?

That Dems continue to fail to deliver a plan...that many still fail to take action, many can't even be asked to speak up. It's why the approval rating is so low. Much of Dems public interactions seems like a course review that many of us do not need. We are looking for leadership and action.

The Democrats' problems are geographic. MAGA strategists have been using our geography with the assistance of powerful technology to gerrymander and focus resources. They know where we are and where we're going. AI is improving the model. To win, Democrat voters must relocate against the model.

You know that old saying, "follow the money?" Conservatives most certainly do NOT always have more money, look at the majority of the Trump Supporters. But the people running the show & milking the less educated for their votes certainly do. Do you really think these people have lots of money?

Most people I personally know who voted for Trump is well off or rich. And most very rich people are conservatives. That was my point. Sure, they also get all the bigots—that’s how they get people to vote against their own self-interest.

As an aside— YouTube has to be up to shady shit. My 12 YO keeps getting crypto investment videos, Andrew Tate, Rogan… his algorithm should be mostly Minecraft. I go thru it 2/3 days a week & 👎🏻/curate. My subscriptions are all lefties & no fashion, but Meagan Kelly on the Met Gala was top for me 🤨

It feels like they’re pushing right-wingers on seemingly innocuous subjects to start. Kid clicked on 1 Rogan video about aliens building pyramids & now it won’t stop. I can’t imagine how her tearing apart fashion @ The Met was relevant when mine is The Bulwark, Pod Save America, Brian Tyler Cohen…

^That to say: I’m sure funding makes a difference, but some of their influence may not originate from showing up at colleges— it’s sneaking into our houses before we know it. Kid saw Independence Day & YouTubed “Area 51”. Why was Rogan the first video & not like Neil DeGrasse Tyson? It’s insidious.

That pre-teens know who they are now means that other kids his age may show up to an event with them later on from name recognition alone. My question is: are we spending $$ to engage kids/teens on their level? They may not understand smart policy, but they understand unfairness & funny “gotchas!”.

That's part of the reason, no doubt. Another part might be that due to campaign financing requirements, the dems promise a way brighter future than they deliver. Every cycle they pander to their base and promise to respect them in the morning, adding insult to injury. More Bernie, more AOC, please

Parents play a role, but not as much as media consumption. I’ve seen it in friends who have very normal, liberal leaning parents. They go down the alt-right pipeline as easily as those raised in a MAGA household.

I hear you but don’t have first hand experience with that. I do know younger folks (age 30 plus) who grew up in liberal homes, who vote Dem for the right reasons, but have no enthusiasm. Our leaders, especially the olds, don’t speak to them.

Please help these kids get out the vote y'all. Repubs have billionaires supporting their groups so we have to give all we can to our young folks to canvas & get out the vote!