Pro-Trump Influencers Are Disrupting Political Media

President-elect Donald Trump‘s victory in the 2024 presidential election proved that a candidate could win without catering to the legacy media.

In the weeks before Election Day, Trump shunned CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and other corporate media outlets in favor of modern-day influencers like Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Logan Paul. Megyn Kelly, whose show is regularly among the top 10 podcasts, joined Trump on the campaign trail in Pittsburgh.

As my Daily Signal colleague Bradley Devlin noted earlier this month, Trump’s interviews with these influencers accumulated more than 100 million views—and reached voters who don’t get their news from traditional media sources.

This parallel media universe now stands poised to challenge the left-of-center establishment in Washington, D.C., and influence the policies of Trump’s second term.

>>> Corporate Media Is This Election’s Big Loser

Jonathan Baron, founder of Baron Public Affairs and host of “The Political Risk Brief,” said the emergence of this powerful conservative media ecosystem allowed Trump to bypass traditional outlets. His firm analyzed more than 16,000 references from Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and 40 key advisers to identify the top influencers who make up this pro-Trump network.

Baron’s firm then separated them into three groups of influencers—amplifiers, specialists, and mavericks—who are categorically anti-establishment.

He spoke with The Daily Signal about his firm’s groundbreaking research and how these powerful influencers will shape campaigns and policymaking in the future. Listen to our conversation on this special interview edition of “The Daily Signal Podcast.”