Some of the most popular votes of the Internet with young men – almost all who welcomed President Donald Trump or have talked a lot last November – have reflections on what he hurts.
A range of stars of podcasters and impresarios YouTube has taken the Trump task in recent months on everything, from immigration and Israel to freedom of expression and Jeffrey Epstein. The list includes Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Andrew Schulz and Shawn Ryan, a casting that Trump was commonly courted to gain access to their audience during last year’s campaign.
Rogan and Von were particularly critical of the Trump administration expulsion program, Rogan calling for certain “F —– G Folles” deportations and Von wondering why the Ministry of Internal Security has published videos of online immigration arrests.
The NBC news survey in August and early September revealed that 33% of American adults aged 18 to 29 approved Trump management of deportations and immigration, while 67% disapproved. Among American adults of all ages, a slightly higher share – 43% – approved the treatment by the president of deportations and immigration.
Schulz and his co-host, Akaash Singh, criticized the president for not having held his campaign promises.
“All [Trump] Facing, I thought he wanted to do, “said Schulz in an episode in July of his” flagrant “podcast, where Trump had appeared in October 2024.” And now, he does exactly the opposite thing of everything F —– G. … I voted for any of this. He does exactly the opposite of everything I voted. “
In particular, Schulz underlined Trump’s failure to quickly end wars in Europe and the Middle East, the deficit expenses of the Trump budget and the president’s expulsion campaign.
The White House did not send a request for comments.
While few of these hosts – who tend to be less openly political than explicitly conservative activists like the late Charlie Kirk – officially approved the president’s campaign, they gave him a platform to talk about sports, politics, technology, comedy and conspiracy theories with millions of viewers and listeners whose attention is generally difficult for politicians. The Republican and Democratic strategists have recognized that Trump’s desire to engage with them contributed to him to a crucial boost in a difficult election.
Recent disagreements threaten to swallow part of Trump’s support – potentially with the least active and less difficult to reach podcast listeners – even if this does not result in a larger part of the electorate for Democrats. Trump is not eligible to request a re-election, but the Republicans hope to keep the new voters who have proven for him when they fight in the mid-term elections next year and to maintain the presidency in 2028.
During the recent Trump voters discussion groups aged 18 to 29 – observed by NBC News as part of the 2025 Deciders series, produced by the University of Syracuse and the Engagious and Sago research firms – a handful of voters said that people like Rogan and Von helped them persuade them to vote for Trump.
Katelyn R., a 21 -year -old Wisconsinite who identifies himself as a political independent, said in the discussion group that Von “led me to vote” for Trump. She added that she had heard Von’s recent criticism of Trump and that she agreed with her “change in their point of view”.
And while most members of the discussion group said that influencers do not change their minds, they have echoed similar criticism in the ventilation of frustrations with Trump.
“I do not approve of the way in which certain situations are managed by expulsion,” added Katelyn R. “The way in which these people are treated do not align with my Christian values, nor my pro-life values, or one of the values that a curator can have.”
Richard B., a 22 -year -old Republican from Pennsylvania, said that he had started to question Trump’s loyalty to his campaign promises.
“I have the impression that transparency is also a problem, not only with the prices, but also having the impression of having changed position by speaking of Epstein files by saying that it is a huge deal to say that” Oh, it is not really a big problem “”, he said.
Despite some cracks in Trump’s coalition of young men, Democrats recognize Trump’s continuing strength – and the weakness of their party – among young men and the influencers they follow.
“One thing I have seen is that there can sometimes be a link between the world of fitness and then enter some of these online podcasts and spaces which can be far right,” the former Democrat representative Colin Allred, a former NFL player who ran to the Senate in Texas, told NBC News. Always stay in shape, that bothers me, because I know that many young men will really hope that they will be able to get advice on physical form. “
“And then there is a confidence that is built there, and then you can use this confidence to say then:” Hey, but you should also think, you know, why are women better than you? “I think, for me, is really misleading and makes me a little upset,” he added.
Trump’s allies say they are not concerned about the differences in opinion among the voters who supported it last November.
“President Trump managed to build a very large tent to be the first Republican to win the national popular vote in two decades,” said Nick Trainer, a GOP strategist who was a senior Trump campaign in 2020. “Inthematically in a large tent, there are disagreements.”
A NBC News decision -making office survey propelled by Surveymonkey which was carried out in late August and early September revealed that 47% of men aged 18 to 29 “strongly” or “somewhat” approved by Trump’s work so far, while 53% of this group “strongly” or “somewhat” disapproved of Trump.
However, disappointment among young men and guys they listen to could deprive the GOP of a mechanism to reveal voters with low propagation that promote them.
At the end of last month, Von, host of the popular YouTube program “Last weekend” and the son of a Nicaraguan immigrant, tore the Ministry of Internal Security for having used his image in an advertisement.
“Yooo DHS I have not approved to be used in this area. I know you know my address, so send a check,” wrote Von in an article deleted from X. “And please, withdraw it and please keep me away from your” Banger “deportation videos. With regard to immigration, my thoughts and the heart are much more nuanced than this video.
Von then talked about the incident of his show last week, noting that the administration pays attention to what he says and that she caused an online reaction.
“I woke up the next morning with a text of a high government official saying:” Hey, if you need additional security in your neighborhood or additional patrol cars, let me know “,” said Von. “And I say to myself” What? ” What are you talking about? Additional security? I don’t even know my camera code. And then what are you going to do?
Rogan, who welcomed Trump for an episode of three hours of his podcast “Joe Rogan Experience” in October and explicitly approved Trump a few days later, was one of the first podcasters to break publicly with the administration.
In March, just two months after Trump was sworn in to his second term, Rogan reviewed several reports on the United States who expel asylum seekers to the countries they were not, including a case of Gay makeup in Venezuela who was sent to a prison in Salvador.
“If you want compassionate people to be on board with you, you cannot expel gay hairdressers looking for asylum-it’s F —– G mad-then throw them in a prison in El Salvador,” said Rogan.
In July, Rogan again called it “F —– G Fou” that the Trump administration had arrested the student of TUFTS Rümeysa Öztürk University in part because of an editorial that she had written by calling the leadership of her university to disinvest herself with bonds with Israel.
Schulz and Von during the summer also broke with Trump on the movements of his administration to minimize the importance of Epstein files, as well as on the continuous support of the administration in Israel when he led his offensive to Gaza.
“Obviously, the intelligence community is trying to cover it, obviously, the Trump administration is trying to cover itself,” said Schulz, speaking of Epstein files with his co-animators in a July episode of “Fagrant”.
“He reprimands the base, like, spitting almost opposite. They ask him. He campaigned on it,” added Schulz.
Meanwhile, May’s comments calling the attacks by Israel against Gaza, a “genocide” collected millions of views.
A few weeks later, Von welcomed the vice-president JD Vance in his program and told him directly that the videos he saw of Gaza was “the most sick thing” and that “where it becomes frightening is that we give, you know, we are accomplices because we help finance military things.”
“Sometimes we feel like we are monitoring Israel’s interest before monitoring America’s interest,” added Von.
Critics of the hosts struck a fever in September when the president celebrated Disney’s decision to suspend the end-of-evening talk show Jimmy Kimmel for the remarks he made following Kirk’s assassination.
“I certainly do not think that the government should be involved to dictate what an actor can or cannot say in a monologue. It is F —– G mad,” he said.
He added that “people on the right” who celebrated Disney’s decision was “crazy to support this because it will be used on you”.
Singh, the co-host of “Fagrant”, also denounced this decision, saying that it was “a great attack on freedom of expression” and criticizing conservative activists to celebrate Kimmel’s suspension.
“I think we were quite firmly in favor of freedom of expression. And it’s funny to see that right -wing people become left.
