West Palm Beach, Florida – President-elect Trump turned to podcasts during the 2024 campaign, gaining support especially among young people who have been trending to the right in recent years, leading to Trump’s landslide victory.
“I just want to quickly thank a few people,” UFC CEO Dana White declared from the podium on election night following Trump's victory, thanking a list of podcasters who spoke with Trump during the campaign. expressed his intention. “I want to thank the Nerk Boys, Aidan Ross, Theo Von, Boston, Bushin’ with the Boys, and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.”
Before President Biden withdrew from the race, faced two assassination attempts, and worked long hours in seven key battleground states and other regions, Trump, also known as the “Nerk Boys,” This interview marked his entry into the podcast world while appealing to a young male voting base. Mr. Trump spoke not only about his policies and vision for the United States, but also about his family and sports, giving voters a glimpse into his life beyond politics.
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Kid Rock, Dana White and Elon Musk accompany President-elect Trump as he waves during UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, November 16, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
In our interview with Nelk Boys, we talk about President Trump's golf game, his favorite songs to play during the campaign, including “YMCA” and “Hold on I'm Coming,” and the Biden administration's response to the coronavirus and Russia. mentioned President Trump's thoughts. .
The Nelk Boys attend the Los Angeles premiere of Columbia Pictures' Bad Boys: Ride or Die held at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California on May 30, 2024. (Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images, Sony Pictures)
“Let's see what happens when we put this whole interview up and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and all of them take it down,” Trump quipped during the podcast, which later removed the interview from YouTube. , causing an uproar. Condemnation from President Trump.
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“What the hell happened to free speech in our country? Unbelievable, but not surprising, the big tech lunatics deleted my interview with the wildly popular NELK Boys for no one to see. “I made it impossible for them to be heard in any way,” the 45th president said. he said in a statement released by his Save America PAC at the time.
“In 24 hours of operation, all their records were set many times over,” he continued. “Interestingly, on the show, I said something like this happens because Big Tech and the fake news media are afraid of the truth, afraid of criticism of Biden, and most of all, don't want to talk about the fraudulent 2020 presidential election, any topic. I said it was going to happen.”
Fast forward to 2024, and Trump once again appeared on Nerk Boys and a number of other podcasts in an effort to build support among young people. That included joining Joe Rogan, host of America's most popular podcast with 14.5 million followers on Spotify alone. And the day before the election, he endorsed Trump.
Joe Rogan greets President-elect Trump during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
In August of this year, the Nerk Boys debuted “Send the Vote” on their podcast. This is a large-scale independent voter initiative aimed at young people, especially young men.
“It's great to post on Instagram and tweet,” Kyle Forgeard, one of the Nerk Boys, said in a promotional video in August, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. . “But every single one of you needs to register to vote, and you need to make your voice heard. Don't be lazy, get your ballot in the mail, do whatever you have to do, and make a plan.” . “
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Armed with a budget of about $20 million, Send the Vote bought ads targeting 1.1 million inactive registered male voters between the ages of 18 and 34. According to Fox News Digital, the ad reached more than 35 million people, and countless others were exposed to it through Nerk Boys' social media accounts.
SendTheVote.com has more than 2 million visitors, including 210,000 first-time voters who saw an ad and subsequently voted, and 110,000 who visited the site and requested an invitation to vote.
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“Send the Vote” has reached more than 140 million people through influencers, nearly 1 million people through streaming content, and nearly 7 million people specifically through podcasts, Fox Digital found. Send the Vote's ads feature other hugely popular shows, including comedy shows with KillTony, Theo Von, and Tim Dillon, the sports-oriented podcast “BS with Jake Paul,” and viral TikTok celebrity Hailey Welch's “Talk Tuah.” It was also featured on a podcast. “Podcast.
Podcast host Joe Rogan said former President Trump is so popular with Americans because of what he calls his “wild statements.” (Screenshot/Joe Rogan Experience)
Send the Vote launched tailgate events during the Penn State-Wisconsin game in October to appeal to young voters in two battleground states. Volunteers knocked on doors at frat houses and held a voter registration concert in Atlanta with pro-Trump rapper Waka Flocka Flame.
“Too many people in our country have felt like their voices don't matter and that the barriers to real change are too great to overcome. Send the Vote aims to address those barriers. The purpose was to remind viewers that their social media posts are important and do not count and must go to the polls. Tired of unnecessary wars? It's not as difficult as they say. – John Shahidi, co-founder of Full Send, told FOX News Digital.
Trump's pivot to podcasts, as opposed to traditional media interviews, this election cycle has paid off with Gen Z men and millennials. A Fox News voter poll released earlier this month found that 53% of men between the ages of 18 and 44 support President Trump, while Vice President Kamala Harris has a 45% approval rating.
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Rogan's endorsement of the 45th president was seen as a huge success, joining Nerk Boys and other podcasters who highlighted Trump. The former president and president-elect appeared on Rogan's podcast for a three-hour interview ahead of the election. Harris was offered the same interview, but Rogan rejected her camp's request to cut the interview short and move it out of the studio, he previously said.
After the election, Trump attended a UFC fight in New York City and was seen hugging Logan, which went viral online.
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On election night, when Trump was projected as the winner, UFC's Dana White praised the podcasters for spotlighting Trump for their viewers, adding that “karma” had caught up with Democrats.
“There's no one who deserves this more than him, and there's no one who deserves this more than his family,” White said on election night. “This is what happens when a machine chases you. What you've seen over the past few years, it's like: You couldn't stop him, he keeps going, he stops. He's the most resilient, hard-working man I've ever met in my life, and his family is amazing.
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“This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family.”
