As public mood has shifted on Israel-Gaza and the Iran war, so has the manosphere’s devotion to the US president
Earlier this week, Donald Trump announced that the UFC president, Dana White, was to become his press secretary. The US president hoped the creator of Power Slap, a face-slapping league which one of the world’s leading neurologists called “a sport inconsistent with the intelligence of humans”, might be the right man to deliver his daily rebuttals to the media.
Trump later backtracked on the appointment, saying he was “only kidding”, yet it is easy to understand why he might be pining for White’s muscles, trash talk and thirst for athletic violence. White is representative of the way Trump transcended politics in 2024 to become a celebrated figure in the manosphere, the loosely defined cluster of male content creators who have a direct line to America’s bored and aggrieved young men. On the night of the 2024 election, White stood at the victory podium reading out “thank yous” to the formerly heterodox podcast bros who came out for Trump: “the Nelk Boys, Adin Ross, Theo Von, Bussin’ With The Boys, and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan”. Trump ended up winning 63% of young white men that night, unheard of for a Republican politician.
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