The large writings of Democratic politicians, liberal activists and resistance for years have drawn morbid comfort from the fact that Donald Trump's supporters are frankly very old.
They believed that the Trump phenomenon had an expiration date in the near future. Young voters replace parents and grandparents as demographics change, and everything goes right in the world, or rather left.
The 2024 election shattered these hopes.
General Z might also be called General Trump, because Trump's profits are so great.
Data Guru David Shor exposed this harsh reality in an interview with Ezra Klein of the New York Times last week. Scholl Kleined the influence of his voting insights and voter analysis.
Trump has won voters under the age of 26. White women, white men and black men in this demographic were all leaning towards Trump.
The former president has fully acquired an 18-year-old non-white man.
Young people say they look like “the most conservative generation we've experienced in 50-60 years.”
Podcast revolution
It's not difficult to understand why.
First and foremost, Trump and his agent have become stunning communicators on Gen Z's preferred media platform: podcasts, social media, especially Tiktok.
When Trump arrived on the political scene a decade ago, he was on cable news and reality television.
As these are platformers for Boomer broadcasts, it's not surprising that older voters are important conditions for him.
The 2024 Trump campaign correctly speculated that voters living outside of the retirement community should reach and that long-form podcast appearances should challenge Trump's strengths.
Their atmosphere is “Barstool Conservatism,” a phrase created by writer Matthew Walter to describe the culturally liberal spirit. In other words, you don't really oppose gay marriage or abortion in such circles.
And that's the other part of the puzzle. Democrats lack both attractive messengers and attractive messages.
In fact, it appears that they have forgotten their relationship with the young man.
For all current issues, Democrats must blame progressive activists, elite media and campus militants who conquered higher education in the course of 2010.
Young men, ageing in this environment, were harbored complete hostility by a brand of liberalism that had no place for them.
The boys were told to become more women in the era and create space for traditionally marginalized groups, even as the ranks began to plummet among educated elites.
Methu's movement, the rise of nostalgia, and the enforcement of cancel culture identified some truly bad actors, but swirled out of control, resulting in a general atmosphere of persecution against young men.
Cancel culture sacrifice
In any other era, teenagers who used offensive languages are properly disciplined and can learn from experience. However, the rise of social media has enabled it to maintain a continuous log of infringement and punish criminals forever.
So, is it strange that young men seek comfort in a media environment where sports and fitness are well known and encouraged?
Where is freedom of speech celebrated and political correctness attacked?
Is it okay to make a barren joke and think girls are attractive?
And, importantly, is Trump cast as a supportive person?
One of the ironic rules of politics is that young people distort liberals and become more conservative with age.
According to famous proverbs, it often mistakenly belongs to Winston Churchill. If you're not liberal when you're 25, you're heartless. If you are not conservative by the time you are 35, you don't have a brain.
But Trump reversed this trend and won the hearts of Gen Z.
Meanwhile, Democrats are sure many young men don't like it.
Robby Soave is a senior editor at Reason.
