For decades, Republicans railed against what they saw as a liberal media establishment shaping American politics from the left.
Nearly
a year into U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, that narrative
is flipping. A new constellation of influencers, billionaire moguls, and
social-media platforms – many embracing or amplifying White House themes
– is pulling the nation’s information ecosystem to the right.
Right-wing
influencers and conservative media personalities, often working in
lockstep with Trump officials, have become a potent force in a widening
campaign of retribution against perceived enemies of the Trump
administration. Empowered by ownership and technology shifts in the
media and bolstered by financial incentives, these figures help
discredit Trump’s rivals and amplify his administration’s talking points
and false claims, blurring boundaries between official messaging and
private-sector news and opinion.
This
account is based on a review of more than 300 hours of podcasts and TV
shows, thousands of social media posts, and interviews with 48 people –
including influencers, elected officials, political strategists, and
media owners – and an examination of court filings.
As
Trump deploys National Guard troops into U.S. cities, influencers
embedded with figures such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem
have widely shared content echoing the administration’s portrayal of
Democratic-led cities as engulfed in chaos, even as law enforcement data shows violent crime declining in most urban areas. A spokesperson for Noem declined to address the discrepancy.
Inside
the White House, the president invited right-wing media personalities
to join senior officials in the State Dining Room, soliciting their
input and criticizing traditional news outlets – all on live television.
Other
episodes underscore this symbiotic relationship. In April, more than a
dozen national security officials were dismissed amid an influencer-led
campaign. In August, a Black Democratic lawmaker received a surge of
racist threats after the Trump administration used an official
government account to repost a false allegation made by another
right-wing influencer.
“We’re
seeing how the confluence of social media influencers is being
amplified by forces in the government,” said University of Maryland
professor Sarah Oates, who has studied Russian propaganda for 30 years.
“There’s an argument to be made that they’re not influencers, they’re
propagandists.”
Right-wing
influencers and media outlets say they are ideological allies of Trump,
not propagandists, sharing the belief that he is rescuing the country
from decline. They and the administration accuse traditional media of
covering him unfairly. “It’s a reaction to the nearly decade-long smear
campaign of President Trump and his family and MAGA in this country by
the mainstream media,” said Laura Loomer, who describes herself as both a
Trump loyalist and an independent journalist.
White
House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said that many Americans no longer
trust the mainstream media “because they frequently lie and distort the
truth to advance their own ideological agenda.”
“The
Trump administration is proud to meet Americans where they’re at and
engage with a variety of new media platforms – that often receive more
views and engagement than traditional media – to share the truth,” she
said. “Americans want unfiltered content, not biased opinions
masquerading as news – and Reuters is proving why with this bogus
‘analysis.’
Trump’s
loyal media figures give him an advantage as he navigates political
crises and consolidates authority. By shaping narratives in real time –
and at times echoing the White House’s false claims – the president’s
aligned media figures can blunt unfavorable coverage and fortify Trump’s
base at a scale perhaps unmatched by any previous president.
After
this week’s state elections, conservative and right-wing influencers
largely echoed the president’s line that Republican losses were the
result of flawed candidates and external factors such as the government
shutdown – while avoiding criticism of Trump himself.
That comes amid a broader shift among Trump-friendly media executives and owners.
At
the start of the year, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced a
rollback of content moderation policies that had led to the removal of
some pro-Trump influencers from Facebook and Instagram.
Since
2022, Elon Musk – Tesla CEO, Trump donor, and the world’s richest person
– has taken a similar approach on X, formerly known as Twitter. Once a
dominant hub for news and commentary, X has shifted right after Musk
retooled the platform and amplified favored accounts, giving
conservative voices greater reach. X did not respond to a request for
comment.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s third-richest person, has reshaped the traditionally liberal-leaning opinion section of The Washington Post – a move Bezos described in February as a “significant shift” to a focus on “personal liberties and free markets.”
A Post
spokesperson said that the new editorial page is nonpartisan, and that
“it is historically within an owner’s provenance to decide the direction
of the editorial page.”
In
September, Trump said that media mogul Rupert Murdoch, his son Lachlan, and Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison – who are longtime Trump
allies – could be among the investors in the U.S. spinoff of TikTok, one
of the world’s most popular apps. In August, Ellison’s son David took
control of Paramount and its CBS unit. In October, he appointed Bari
Weiss – an opinion journalist known for anti-woke commentary – as editor
of CBS News.
While
Reuters has reported that Oracle is expected to be a TikTok investor,
it could not verify roles for the Murdochs or Fox. A spokesperson for
both declined to comment. Spokespeople for CBS, Oracle, TikTok, David
Ellison, and Weiss did not respond to requests for comment.
Right-wing
influencers and popular conservative media figures are strikingly loyal
to the president, according to a Reuters analysis of more than 300
hours of podcasts and TV shows, and thousands of social media posts by
22 top figures. In July, after a Justice Department review found no new
evidence of wrongdoing in the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal, many of them
expressed outrage – but largely spared Trump from criticism.
Newsmax
TV host Rob Schmitt, who discussed Epstein extensively on his show,
told Reuters his fellow conservative media figures backed away from the
Epstein story for fear of angering the White House.
“If
the White House comms team wanted this story to be gone, there are a lot
of people who would feel that pressure,” Schmitt said. “A lot of
conservative media obviously are very tethered to the president,” he
said, referring to White House access.
A Newsmax spokesperson said of its Epstein coverage: “Newsmax has never coordinated with the White House on this matter.”
DIRECT LINE TO ‘HALLS OF POWER’
Republican
leaders have castigated the media for generations as liberal. Barry
Goldwater mocked the “eastern liberal press” during his 1964
presidential campaign. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich attacked the
“liberal elite media” in the 1990s. Trump branded them as “fake news”
and “the enemy of the people.”
In
recent years, figures like Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson have helped
create a conservative media ecosystem – spanning podcasts, social
platforms, and streaming – that continues to portray the older media not
just as biased but part of an entrenched liberal elite. Neither Shapiro
nor Carlson responded to requests for comment.
Whitney
Phillips, a University of Oregon professor who has written six books on
information manipulation, said the media was never the far-left
monolith conservatives claimed it to be. That argument is even less
accurate today, she said, as conservatives hold sway over both
government and major media platforms. “There’s just more of a direct
line between MAGA media, right-wing media and the halls of power,” she
said. “They have the ear of policymakers. The depth and density of those
connections are new.”
The
coalition of conservative voices was on display five days after the
assassination of right-wing influencer and activist Charlie Kirk, when
his podcast was guest-hosted by Vice President JD Vance from the White
House complex. On the show, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen
Miller vowed “to go after the left-wing organizations that are promoting
violence in this country” – a strategy laid out in “the last message
Charlie sent me,”
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