Democrats seeking to buy the next Joe Rogan of the left after 2024 election defeat
Democrats are spending top dollar to “find the next Joe Rogan” on the left after their 2024 election defeat, according to a new report published Tuesday.Liberal strategists are pushing the party’s megadonors to spend tens of millions of dollars to develop “an army of left-leaning online influencers” to help the party “compete culturally” with President Donald Trump, according to The New York Times.“The quiet effort amounts to an audacious — skeptics might say desperate — bet that Democrats can buy more cultural relevance online, despite the fact that casually right-leaning touchstones like Mr.Rogan’s podcast were not built by political donors and did not rise overnight,” the Times reported.According to the report, a group of liberal operatives met in Washington after the election and decided to come up with a for-profit media company called AND Media, or “Achieve Narrative Dominance,” to financially support social media influencers.The company aims to raise $45 million over the next four years and has already raised $7 million, according to the report.
Their business plan, shared with the Times, says the company will directly fund influencers and help produce their content.They will make a creator talent agency and make deals with “four flagship creators.”Another effort in the works is called Project Bullhorn, which will also gather donations to support liberal content creators.
The project, which aims to raise $35 million in its first year, was pitched to donors at a meeting this month, where Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., was reportedly in attendance.Other projects seeking major donor funding include Channel Zero, a company which will provide administrative support to influencers with large followings, and Double Tap Democracy, which will collaborate with 2,000 apolitical influencers with smaller followings, the Times reported.The report comes as Democrats face a messaging and identity crisis in the election aftermath, with polls sh...