Why Gen Z Is Embracing Trump

Perhaps young people have become resentful of the government's massive transfer of wealth from kids to the elderly.

Last week, progressive data guru David Shor gave the Democratic Party a major wakeup call. In an interview with The New York Times' Ezra Klein, he carefully explained that the Republican Party under President Donald Trump has benefitted from a massive shift of young people into the GOP column.

Historically, young voters tend to be more liberal than older Americans, and so these GOP gains are quite astounding—particularly among young men. Vice President Kamala Harris actually lost black male 18-year-olds, according to Shor. Overall, voters age 26 and under broke for Trump.

I wrote an op-ed for the New York Post explaining some of the reasons for this shift. One major factor is that Trump has transformed himself from a cable news and reality TV star—a medium of boomer communication—into a figure of the young-male-dominated podcasting universe.

The 2024 Trump campaign correctly surmised that it would need to reach voters who reside outside retirement communities, and that long-form podcast appearances would play to Trump's strengths and moreover, the key podcasting personalities — Joe Rogan, Theo Von and others — have come to evince a right-wing sensibility, if not exactly conservative politics.

Their vibe is "Barstool conservatism," a phrase coined by the writer Matthew Walther to describe an ethos that is culturally libertarian — i.e., you won't find much opposition to gay marriage and abortion in such circles — and yet decidedly Republican in that it is wholly opposed to the hectoring, self-righteous tone of elite progressivism.

And then there's the fact that the Democratic Party has been in thrall to a cultural vibe that is maximally off-putting to young dudes:

The MeToo movement, the rise of wokeness, and the enforcement of cancel culture identified some true bad actors, but also spiraled out of control, resulting in a general atmosphere of persecution against young men.…

Is it any wonder, then, that young men have sought solace in media environments where sports and fitness are well-liked and encouraged?

Where free speech is celebrated and political correctness is attacked?

Where it's OK to tell raunchy jokes and think girls are attractive (and say so)?

And, importantly, where Trump is cast as a supportive figure?

Read the full op-ed here.

A vibe is a hard thing to pin down; obviously, Democratic politicians are not introducing legislation that calls out toxic masculinity or disparages UFC, so it's somewhat difficult to explain why it's the case that Democrats are stuck with this terrible branding. Yet stuck they are. It's why Rogan, the archetypical media figure who appeals to young right-leaning males, went from being a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) in 2020 to an outright Trump voter in 2024. The vibes are off.

Of course, it's not all vibes. There should be no doubt that the Democratic Party's prominent association with some of the worst policy choices of the last 10 years—from the perspectives of young people—is radicalizing Gen Z in a rightward direction. The Democrats, for instance, are the party that was much more closely associated with COVID-19 lockdowns, mandates, and importantly, school closures, which significantly disrupted the social lives of young people and clearly had severely negative consequences for their mental health and future prospects. (The journalist David Zweig has a fascinating book coming out on this subject in April.)

Democrats are also the party that is more protective of entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. It's become prevailing wisdom to assert that saying anything even remotely suggestive of entitlement cuts is political suicide; Republicans are constantly reminded that these programs generally poll well. However, I have to wonder whether this emerging age gap in politics is an expression of the fact that young people have grown more cognizant of what they are asked to sacrifice for the elderly. Meanwhile, disastrous big government policies have made more expensive so many things that young people need, particularly housing and child care.

I suspect Gen Z has become resentful of this massive transfer of wealth from younger, poorer Americans to older, wealthier Americans. And I suspect this dynamic is really undermining the Democrats' overtures to the kids.

This Week on Free Media

I'm joined by Amber Duke to discuss Signalgate, due process and deportations, whether food stamps should subsidize junk food, and one Democrat's insulting "Hot Wheels" comment.

 

Worth Watching

In the last two or three years, I have played or replayed basically every major Legend of Zelda title. The one exception was The Wind Waker, released on the Nintendo GameCube. The older games are available on the Nintendo Switch's virtual console—i.e., you can just download them—and the more recent games were rereleased for the Switch itself. But Wind Waker occupies an unfortunate middle spot.

Not to be deterred, I went hunting for my Nintendo Wii console, which I found in the back of my closet. (Actually, I found two of them. I have no idea where the other one came from.) The earliest version of the Wii, I recalled, was backward compatible with the GameCube, and I still had my copy of Wind Waker. What I didn't have was a GameCube memory card—remember those!—but it was easy enough to order on Amazon.

And, thus, I have been enjoying a replay of Wind Waker, which was first released 23 years ago, in 2002, during my first year of high school. I don't think this game is as good as its two predecessors (Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, my personal favorite), or the next installment (Twilight Princess), but I'm having a blast with it.