|
 |
PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️
Joe Rogan seems confused. Theo Von is not sure the Donald Trump now in the White House is the same person he voted for in 2024. And Andrew Schulz has done a full 180-degree reversal on Trump’s trustworthiness.
The Stand-Up Podcast Bros, it seems, are finally taking a seat.
Somehow shocked that a second Trump term would entail more than fun UFC memes and busty, hubby-seeking trad chicks in red hats, the pod-fluencers of the “manosphere” who helped persuade millions of young men to go full MAGA in 2024 are now confronting the realities of Trump’s 2025/26 Retribution Tour.
Geez, you mean Trump is really going to unleash legions of ICE stormtroopers clad in helmets, Kevlar vests, and balaclavas to round up mostly non-criminal immigrants — um, some citizens, too — and disappear them into detention centers? There was no way to foresee that happening, well, other than those “Mass Deportation Now!” signs delegates gleefully waved at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Besides, look how cool beanstalk-tall Barron Trump looks on stage — he’s all grown up!
 |
|
Listening to the manosphere’s top podcasters puzzle aloud at what they wrought is an abject lesson in the perils of political media in the influencer era. The problem isn’t that politically ignorant pontificators have inserted themselves into politics; unlike doctors, lawyers, even electricians, punditry requires zero qualifications or professional licenses. Cocksure but poorly informed loudmouths have always been with us.
No, the problem is that shrewd politicians like Trump know how to promote themselves and their agendas by exploiting ostensibly non-political media spaces dominated by political novices.
More on that in a moment, but first — the podcaster reckoning.
I didn’t pod for this
Joe Rogan opened the floodgates of what might be called the Great Bro-Caster Awakening on the June 18, 2025, episode of his podcast.
If the Trump campaign had told people they were going to round up construction workers, Rogan lamented, “I don’t think anybody would have signed up for that. They said, we’re gonna get rid of the criminals and the gang members first, right? And now we’re seeing Home Depots get raided. Like, that’s crazy.”
A few weeks later, Rogan doubled down, calling ICE’s tactics “fucking crazy” and “insane.”
Home Depots aren’t the half of it, Joe. ICE is rounding up people, including kids, at schools and even churches. To meet their bonus-inspired quotas, some of the more creatively sinister agents have begun disguising themselves, too.
A month later, Andrew Schulz went further, indicting Trump for false promises across the board.
“Everything he campaigned on, I believed he wanted to do,” Schulz told his Flagrant podcaster listeners. “I voted for none of this. He’s doing the exact opposite of everything I voted for.”
Apparently Schulz voted for Trump to not personally enrich himself by selling pardons, shake down media companies through civil suits, and impose tariffs willy-nilly on products and countries based on some