In March 2011, Donald Trump was “slammed” by everyone from Snoop Dogg to Larry King on a Comedy Central show helmed by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane. It was vulgar and very funny.
McFarlane's Unprintable bargains Criticizing Trump's sexual orientation and many other things. And Trump I have to applaud back. He ended the night with a hysterical barrage of criticism of the comedians and himself, including one final confession about his hair, which earned him a standing ovation from audience members Chrissy Teigen and her then-boyfriend John Legend.
Trump's Trump ambitions were mentioned jokingly at times, but let's be honest: nobody on stage, or in the audience, could have predicted that he would be elected president of the United States just five and a half years later. Perhaps it was with a mixture of guilt and shock that many of the celebrities in the room turned their backs on him.
But despite the unpresidential framing, Trump hit his stride, and the speech provides important context for the 2024 election as he embarks on one of the most unusual and contradictory media strategies ever attempted by a presidential candidate.
The thing is, it might work.
On the other side of the aisle sits Vice President Kamala Harris. Tonight on CNN This will be her first interview since taking over for the Democratic nomination in place of her boss. She will be interviewed in a more traditional format alongside her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Democrat), but Reportedly It will take some serious internal wrangling to get it done, and Harris will ultimately have to go it alone.
Meanwhile, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Trump's running mate, has launched a fierce attack on traditional media, most recently Sitting for long periods of time He appeared on NBC's “Meet the Press” after appearing on several other traditional Sunday shows the week before.
But Trump is a different man, and he's on a very different path. He has eschewed the traditions and boundaries that a typical presidential candidate would follow. Over the past three months, he has focused on independent media — podcasts and online shows with large audiences and hugely loyal followings.
The strategy first emerged in June. When Trump sat down After speaking with influencer and pro wrestler Logan Paul on his “Impaulsive” podcast, an interview that has been viewed more than 6 million times on YouTube, he found himself with a whole different audience a week later. To The All-In Podcast is popular with entrepreneurial and Silicon Valley enthusiasts, and this interview has been viewed over 3 million times on YouTube.
Last month, Trump played golf with popular young PGA pro Bryson DeChambeau. They tried The number of views on the YouTube channel exceeds 50 (12 million views). He sat down Earlier this month, Adyn Ross, one of the internet's most famous Gen Z streamers, hit 2.5 million views on YouTube. And of course, He was interviewed The conversation, which took place on Musk's X platform with billionaire supporter Elon Musk, has attracted nearly a billion views, Musk claims, between the interview itself and a subsequent video discussing it.
Many of these media choices reveal an attempt to appeal to men, particularly young men, and perhaps secondarily, black and Latino men — constituencies Trump clearly believes will tip a close election in his favor. And by showing how adept he is in these nontraditional settings — by thriving in more casual settings — Trump, quite frankly, comes across as genuine, authentic cool.
Can you imagine Harris sitting down and talking with Musk for two hours between now and the election, or with any other popular streamer?
Trump's disruptive media tour continues. Last week, he Chopped Trump did a sometimes funny, sometimes moving interview with Theo Vuong on his “This Past Weekend” show (viewed 12 million times), which Trump said was a favorite haunt for his 18-year-old son, Barron. (Vuong, a comedian himself, has been in the spotlight a bit for interviewing Sen. Bernie Sanders.) Previous week.
This week, Trump Interviewed Shawn Ryan, a former Navy SEAL who conducts insightful, long-form interviews on his popular digital show (viewed over 2 million times), and Fong and Ryan represent a strategic calculation to grab two more handfuls of the young man's apple.
We'll see whether it works in November, but from a content standpoint, Trump seems entirely at ease in these vastly different environments.
So, following this same logical path, what comes next? Barstool Sports is an obvious destination. Trump was interviewed by founder Dave Portnoy in 2020, and Portnoy said, On record He'll vote for Trump in 2024. But what about someone like Pat McAfee, a digital media personality now with ESPN? Could this be an opportunity to get the college football vote?
And if he really wants to win the black vote, especially the black male vote, maybe he'll appear on the Breakfast Club morning show for a tough but fair interview with host Charla'maan Tha God that's not to be missed.
Vance has also done things outside the mainstream. Appear He gave a more free-flowing interview on the mischievous Nerk Boys' “Full Send Podcast,” surrounded by cases of the group's branded hard seltzer. Trump has also done a “Full Send.” return Last April.
While Harris and her advisors painstakingly vet every angle before stepping foot in any carefully crafted media opportunity, Trump is trying to subvert another institution: the presidential interview. It's a strategy that's never been tried before, and, frankly, it's kind of a counterstrategy. We'll see whether it pays off in just 10 weeks.
NewsNation contributor Steve Krakauer is the author of Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy with Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People and editor and host of the Fourth Watch newsletter and podcast.
