Andrew Marantz

Yeah, there's definitely money going into the right wing podcast sphere, some of it from political donors and some of it just, you know, Joe Rogan got a massive deal from Spotify just because he was very popular. And part of what, you know, when Hassan Piker says, you know, the Democrats can't podcast their way out of this.

Yeah, there's definitely money going into the right wing podcast sphere, some of it from political donors and some of it just, you know, Joe Rogan got a massive deal from Spotify just because he was very popular. And part of what, you know, when Hassan Piker says, you know, the Democrats can't podcast their way out of this.

I think part of what he means is you can't just have a kind of astroturf industry. solution where you throw a bunch of money at sort of randomly selected people whose views you like, and that'll do it, right?

I think part of what he means is you can't just have a kind of astroturf industry. solution where you throw a bunch of money at sort of randomly selected people whose views you like, and that'll do it, right?

I think part of what he means is you can't just have a kind of astroturf industry. solution where you throw a bunch of money at sort of randomly selected people whose views you like, and that'll do it, right?

So to kind of play out that argument, the way that argument would go is, okay, let's say some left of center donor decided to give hundreds of millions of dollars to whichever TikTok star was kind of supporting the Democrats. Would that boost awareness of the Democrats? Probably. But what it wouldn't do is have the authentic feeling of an organic, trusted, authentic, weird voice, right?

So to kind of play out that argument, the way that argument would go is, okay, let's say some left of center donor decided to give hundreds of millions of dollars to whichever TikTok star was kind of supporting the Democrats. Would that boost awareness of the Democrats? Probably. But what it wouldn't do is have the authentic feeling of an organic, trusted, authentic, weird voice, right?

So to kind of play out that argument, the way that argument would go is, okay, let's say some left of center donor decided to give hundreds of millions of dollars to whichever TikTok star was kind of supporting the Democrats. Would that boost awareness of the Democrats? Probably. But what it wouldn't do is have the authentic feeling of an organic, trusted, authentic, weird voice, right?

So you were saying before people who've known parasocially someone like Theo Vaughn or Joe Rogan for years, they have a kind of trust in them. And a lot of what that trust comes from is not just – putting in the parasocial hours, although that's important, but also, frankly, how weird and idiosyncratic these people's interests are.

So you were saying before people who've known parasocially someone like Theo Vaughn or Joe Rogan for years, they have a kind of trust in them. And a lot of what that trust comes from is not just – putting in the parasocial hours, although that's important, but also, frankly, how weird and idiosyncratic these people's interests are.

So you were saying before people who've known parasocially someone like Theo Vaughn or Joe Rogan for years, they have a kind of trust in them. And a lot of what that trust comes from is not just – putting in the parasocial hours, although that's important, but also, frankly, how weird and idiosyncratic these people's interests are.

You can't grow Joe Rogan of the right in a lab because Joe Rogan wasn't the Joe Rogan of the right until a few months ago. In 2020, Joe Rogan was the Joe Rogan of the left. He supported Bernie Sanders for president. And then between 2020 and 2024, he was lost.

You can't grow Joe Rogan of the right in a lab because Joe Rogan wasn't the Joe Rogan of the right until a few months ago. In 2020, Joe Rogan was the Joe Rogan of the left. He supported Bernie Sanders for president. And then between 2020 and 2024, he was lost.

You can't grow Joe Rogan of the right in a lab because Joe Rogan wasn't the Joe Rogan of the right until a few months ago. In 2020, Joe Rogan was the Joe Rogan of the left. He supported Bernie Sanders for president. And then between 2020 and 2024, he was lost.

But the point I'm making with that is if you had decided to astroturf your way to Joe Rogan, you wouldn't have been looking in the right place because you wouldn't have been funding Joe Rogan. So a lot of where the trust and authenticity comes from is... You know, this is someone whose interests I actually just vibe with at a totally apolitical level.

But the point I'm making with that is if you had decided to astroturf your way to Joe Rogan, you wouldn't have been looking in the right place because you wouldn't have been funding Joe Rogan. So a lot of where the trust and authenticity comes from is... You know, this is someone whose interests I actually just vibe with at a totally apolitical level.

But the point I'm making with that is if you had decided to astroturf your way to Joe Rogan, you wouldn't have been looking in the right place because you wouldn't have been funding Joe Rogan. So a lot of where the trust and authenticity comes from is... You know, this is someone whose interests I actually just vibe with at a totally apolitical level.

And then when they start talking about politics, maybe I'll take some advice from them. That's a very hard thing to kind of recreate from the top down.

And then when they start talking about politics, maybe I'll take some advice from them. That's a very hard thing to kind of recreate from the top down.

And then when they start talking about politics, maybe I'll take some advice from them. That's a very hard thing to kind of recreate from the top down.