Why is Donald Trump dedicating significant campaign time to podcast hosts about cocaine benders, golf swings and boxing legends?
The strategy behind this is not a secret. Trump’s campaign has acknowledged what it sees as the key to victory on November 5: Getting men out of politics.
His team believes that there are votes that must come from men, especially young men, who do not like politicians and are not active in voting. But if they were to vote, they would prefer Trump.
Reaching out to these men is the first step. Trump’s campaign manager made light of this during the Republican convention this summer. Chris LaCivita lamented the low rate of gun ownership, and talked about yelling at his hunting friends for not voting.
“What are you doing?” LaCivita said to her friends. “You have to show up.”
The math here is simple: Most votes show Trump with a strong lead among male voters, while trailing badly among women. Some polls, however not everythingeven show him to find a place among young men. If more men show up, the thinking goes, a close election might be won.
It’s a serious concern for Democrats.
The number of volunteers
At the party’s headquarters in another state in North Carolina, volunteers have been surprised by the explosion of interest since Kamala Harris entered the race, as more people are now knocking on doors and making phone calls.
But there is a caveat. During a phone banking break, one woman noted that most of the volunteers looked like her: female professionals, middle-aged and older.
North Carolina has voted Republican in the last three presidential elections, but since Kamala Harris entered the race, Democrats have gained momentum in the state. Nationally, CBC’s Katie Simpson visits two competing districts to find out why.
“There has been an outpouring of my volunteers,” said Jane Brody, a commercial realtor in Buncombe County, NC.
“I think we need all different types of volunteers. Young people, men, veterans.”
He finds it hard to understand why Trump might attract more young male voters than he did in 2020. After all, he says, they tell the voters. they also care about abortion rightssuch as boyfriends, husbands and brothers.
Young men may depend accordingly
On a college campus a few hours east, a young radical activist insists there is more support for Trump’s ideas here than many realize.
Asked for an example, Matthew Kingsley talks about the protests in Gaza this past spring. He would counter protest by raising an American flag nearby, and he says other male students would encourage him tactfully.
“I’d like people to come up to me and say, ‘Thank you,'” said the 20-year-old engineering student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“They are not willing to go public with their political opinions. But they are very biased.”
Clarity: Republicanism remains, as Kingsley admits, a minority view on college campuses. But even a small gain for Trump in that group could swing the election.
Some Harris supporters pointed to the gender gap during a rally outside a rally in North Carolina last week, the first since he brought the rally. the performance of a rigorous debate.
Abortion makes voting ‘personal’ for women
Tausha Forney, a curriculum editor for the non-profit group, says she hasn’t seen crowds like this in a Democrat since Barack Obama won the state in 2008, but she says she’s “little-hearted” about the male turnout.
He says he relies on women to show his male relatives and partners to get out of Harris.
Katelyn Guidry, a student at the University of North Carolina, believes young women are speaking up, especially after Trump-appointed judges struck down abortion rights (North Carolina now 12 week limit).
“For us it’s about the personal,” he said. “But I still see support from my male colleagues.”
It is difficult to know exactly how big the gender gap will be on election day.
Another well-known political scientist, John Sides, has he realized thatwhen it comes to young voters, polling is all over the map – The New York Times exhibitions most Gen Z men support Trump, but other surveys don’t do itor show little difference between male and female.
Indulging in cocaine and boxes
Here’s what’s undeniable: Trump wants votes in hard-to-reach areas.
He has appeared on podcasts that are generally non-political, but with younger, male, and plus-size audiences.
The episode with comedian Theo Von drew more than that 13 million views only on YouTube, not counting other platforms. For the sake of comparison, of course three times the average TV viewing of Fox News’ highest-rated primetime programs.
WATCH | Trump appears on Theo Von’s podcast:
Von’s questions were softballs like: “Why does the institution keep trying to drown you?” The only real discussion about policy came when the host praised Trump for his own executive order to increase clarity on health insurance rates.
Instead, they talked about sports — Trump described watching Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fight, then becoming friends with both boxing legends over the years.
They also discussed Von’s recurring battles with alcohol and cocaine addiction. Trump, who says he has never touched alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, was curious, asking Von what was harder to give up – alcohol or cocaine?
Von said alcohol made him go back to drugs. “Come down fast,” he told Trump. “You’re playing, running with hooks and stuff. It’s getting worse … Cocaine will turn you into a bad owl, brother.”
Trump gets access to a large audience
Trump met several podcasters through a close friend, mixed-karate impresario Dana White, who introduced him to Von and others.
White’s collaborators were on stage at Trump’s latest rally: the Nelk Boys, Canadian-American podcasters and entertainers of millions of fans on platforms that spark the last debate, celebrity interviews, pro-right politics and viral content like TV demolition showing Kamala Harris speaking. They have talked to them Trump several times.
For another the latest episode and wrestler Logan Paul, Trump discussed boxing, family and his relationship with world leaders, including dictators, with whom many say he has a good relationship.
“I got along with the hardliners,” he said. “You also had some really weak ones. I don’t get along with them either. It’s strange. It must be a human thing.”
It is clear that Trump is doing these shows because he has a large audience that despises politics, says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, spokesperson. political communications specialist.
“It’s an anti-establishment audience,” said the University of Pennsylvania professor and author.
An attempt to mobilize male voters
They may distrust politicians; but they trust their favorite podcast host. And he says hearing Trump talk quietly with that host creates a bond in a way that an ad or traditional news clips don’t.
Scholars in his field call it a parasocial relationship, a sense of community between the listener, the host and Trump.
“It’s a way of saying, ‘I’m like you, a voter whose vote I need. So you can trust me. By the way, the hosts who are listening let me go quietly because they caught me. You can trust me,'” said Hall Jamieson in the interview.
“These are the people who will say if they vote, they will vote for Trump – or they will vote for a third party. But they will not be able to vote. What they are trying to do is get them to vote.”
And it’s no mistake that these discussions avoid talking about policy. He says if they take themselves seriously, the audience will listen. “This is not NPR. This is not PBS NewsHour.”
Trump’s biggest prize, says Hall Jamieson, will be an invitation from the 1 podcast Spotify host: Joe Rogan, anti-establishment, often conspiratorial, and political sometimes skew conservative, although he allowed Bernie Sanders and they are praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But there’s no sign of it being imminent, especially after Rogan recommended Harris for troubling Trump in the debate.
“He nails it. Joe Rogan praises Kamala Harris’ campaign and debate performance, and mocks Donald Trump. (Video: The Joe Rogan Experience) pic.twitter.com/tnAWPnZlFM
The issue of t-shirts
Outside of Harris’ rally in Charlotte, some insiders said they believe Trump may be pandering to men, including among the Black community.
“Most African-American men are considering Trump,” said Randolph Anyanwu, a 28-year-old T-shirt seller and the son of Nigerian immigrants.
“Of course I don’t sell to men. I sell to women,” he said, pointing to a pile of Harris T-shirts on his desk. “The women who buy them – they’re 35 and over [Harris’s] true supporters.”
Anyanwu says he has no plans to vote this year as he does not like both candidates. “I planned it.”
But he says Harris’ campaign has seen an increase in interest compared to Joe Biden – based on polls, campaign donations, volunteer numbers and Anyanwu T-shirt sales, which have increased.
It is also important to note that the majority of Black men are revealed to back Harris.
Anyanwu remains silent when asked to predict the election.
“It could go either way,” he said, before adding: “I think Kamala will win.”
