Trump Is Losing the Bros

Some of the president’s newest converts are having second thoughts.

In 2024, the extended universe of bro podcasters and influencers swung hard to Donald Trump. They were upset about a lot of things—wokeness, trans issues, perceived “censorship” on social media—and decided Trump and his policies were their answer.

Joe Rogan had Trump on his podcast for a three-hour chat, which has been viewed more than 61 million times. The comedian and podcast host Tim Dillon told CNN that Trump was able to “connect with people in a way that Kamala didn’t seem to understand.” Shortly after taking office, Trump sat down for a chummy interview with the podcaster Shawn Ryan, who says he “felt great” about his vote for Trump in 2024.

You might not know all of these people if you’re a reader of this Substack, but they’re modern-day media giants. These are people whose words reach hundreds of millions of Americans, particularly young men, who are still working out in real time how they might identify politically.

So it’s a pretty big deal that these same guys are now turning on Trump and his policies.

Here’s Rogan in the days after the ICE killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, calling it “horrific,” “a terrible tragedy,” and “all kinds of wrong.” Remarking on ICE’s thug tactics, he asks: “ Are we really going to be the Gestapo? ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?”

Dillon feels the same. He told his nearly 1 million YouTube followers this week that the ICE agents prowling the streets of American cities today “are people that, like, answered an ad on Craigslist … they don’t have anything going on.” He called the masked, jump-out raids we’re seeing “performative and cruel and a bit psychotic,” and said the officer who killed Good “didn’t have to do it.”

For Shawn Ryan, the turning point came with the Epstein files, and the administration’s monthslong campaign of delaying, obfuscating, and stonewalling. The administration summoned right-wing influencers to the White House, only to hand them phony binders full of information that was already public. Trump pressured Congress to end its session early rather than release more information. And his administration continues to ensure Ghislaine Maxwell gets the white-glove treatment in a cushy “club fed” facility.

After all that, here is Ryan today: “ Why is the White House protecting pedophiles? I just don’t understand it, bro. I can’t f*****g get it through my head why we would protect pedophiles.  I mean, I f*****g voted for this s**t. I voted to get these damn files released, and it’s like a total 180 just happened.”

We should be honest about the fact that, in our polarized political climate, nothing changes overnight. Trump grew popular in the “manosphere,” with its big-name influencers and legions of followers, because of a confluence of factors that aren’t going to just vanish. But we are starting to see the turn, a direct result of his policies. Trump’s shady Epstein connections, ICE’s storm trooper tactics, and the senseless killing of an innocent woman—all of it is weighing on the president’s bro allies.

Plenty of these bros will continue to support this administration. Others will break on some issues while continuing to align with the administration elsewhere. Still, there are cracks showing in the facade. And this tracks with a broader downturn that we’re seeing in Trump’s favorability, especially among the young people who consume content like Rogan’s, Dillon’s, and Ryan’s.

Dillon has talked about the importance of stopping ICE’s indiscriminate terror, saying this is a prerequisite “if anyone has any interest in having a civil functioning society.” He’s an unlikely voice of reason and sanity. But in this moment, with an administration drunk off its own power, we’ll take it.

Home of the Brave is an initiative dedicated to exposing this administration’s corruption, cruelty, and lawlessness.