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The Futile Quest to Build a “Liberal Joe Rogan” (theintercept.com)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world

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For months, pundits have decried the absence of a “Joe Rogan of the left” — an online media figure who can galvanize young men to support Democrats in the way that popular right-wing creators like Rogan, Adin Ross, and the NELK Boys have done for President Donald Trump. Now, it appears that Democratic operatives have a $20 million plan to build such a figure.

Nina Smith, a Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to Stacey Abrams, said instead of propping up a creator who checks the perfect ideological boxes, Democrats should embrace the online spaces for young men that already exist.

For example, creators like Hasan Piker, a left-leaning creator with over 5.5 million subscribers on Twitch and broad popularity among young men, has largely been ignored by the Democratic establishment. Piker’s political content leans farther left, sharing a populist economic message paired with strong criticism of U.S. foreign policy in Israel.

“There is a tendency to shy away from those spaces because our favorite thing to do in the Democratic Party is to, pardon my language, shit on the left,” said Smith.

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[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The GOP grew itself as the "big tent party" because it masterfully understood how to get many divergent interest groups in line. I think a lot of this just has to do with the authoritarian might that's always been central to the Republican party, and how the liberal culture is more "your refined, college educated uncle who'd rather go get high in the garage than get involved in the fight."

I don't think we need one central orthodoxy, rather we need a drum being beat loudly, and no one on our side has strong arms.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

That’s my uncle. PhD in theology. Former Catholic priest (and missionary in Bolivia). Former teacher. Now spends a lot of time meditating, doing yoga, taking pilgrimages to India, reading, fighting climate change. Has a lot of left wing friends in South America who have suffered horrendous atrocities by far right governments.

He’s really the old school left though. Young leftists come in a million different varieties.