GOP Josh & the Conservative “Influencer” Problem
Our culture war has a problem with child soldiers.
I want to introduce you to a kid named Josh. GOP Josh, to be exact (will not be publishing his last name for reasons that will become obvious). He’s a right-wing political commentator from Ohio’s 15th district who’s making a career out of singing the glories of Donald Trump, heralding his future victory in 2024, and getting into weird Twitter fights with Ron DeSantis’ top campaign staff.
He’s also 17 years old.
I am not making any of this up, I swear. He simultaneously complains about Republican youth “not being taken seriously by GOP leadership,” extols Donald Trump as his “hero,” and then posts things like this, self-labeling as a single, wildly successful alpha male. Good. Glory.
GOP Josh (@GOPJosh20), 10:17PM, 09/26/23 (X).
Despite all of this, I don’t bring all of this up to dunk on GOP Josh or his ilk—that would be like taking candy from a “passionately pro-Trump” barely-not-child (okay, I promise I’m done now). I bring it up because, believe it or not, I actually feel sorry for people like this. And it’s not just our friend Josh and his admittedly strange social media parading.
For whatever reason, my peers in the political sphere are (metaphorically) going nuts en masse. I present to you, in the name of bipartisanship, the case of Harry Sisson, a 21-year-old DNC influencer who tweets about the glorious exploits of the Biden-Harris administration to his 176,000 X followers.
Apparently, being a politically active member of Gen-Z puts you on a madly wide spectrum from philosophy majors at Christian liberal arts colleges who think they’re too enlightened to vote (and y’know what, let them continue to think that) to truly bought-and-paid-for political actors who make pro-Biden TikToks to a quarter of a million viewers who’re hopefully too illusioned to notice the revenue that such practices give the creators.
Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson), 1:19PM, 12/25/2023 (X).
That’s a broad spectrum, and I’d argue there are many problems with the extremities at both ends (although political quietism will probably do less irreparable damage to your soul *sarcasm*). Yet, the problem of youth conservative influencers is deeper than the mere problem of bringing annoyance to everyone’s Twitter feeds.
I’m not here to get into the deep depths of youth conservative activism from Pragerforce to Turning Point USA, partially because it’s not as simple as “everyone under 30 is incapable of having serious political thoughts.’ To believe so is to implicitly accept that there’s no gradation of sanity within the political content of Americans under 30, a fact that I don’t believe and, to be honest, a belief that I and many others strive to disprove, day in and day out.
Further, as controversial as it may be, the PragerU mindset of creating a “relatable alternate voice” works, particularly on people of my generation—although I’d argue it gets close to the very identity politics that Prager rails against—young voices are more persuasive to younger audiences. But that’s just the problem.
I’ve met my share of conservative influencers, and to be clear, many of them have been personable, professional peers who are doing this out of sincere belief and not merely some partisan grift/cleverly worded network contract. Yet, I have seen a problem that affects all of us in the content creation sphere, regardless of age and medium—the audience affects more than the creation. It affects the creator too.
If a young political influencer’s primary audience is people their own age, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of only thinking at the level that will relate to that audience. As someone who’s been 17? That’s not a particularly high level of analysis.
Elements on the left and right are expending money into fueling a generation of youth activists who seem to be trained in very little other than the art of “being under 30 on camera.”
As someone who’s done a fair share of this, the objective is often simple—be conservative and the audience will, by and large, be forgiving because you’re in your 20s and people will think you’re the next hope against the woke Marxist left (this premise is rarely stated but very often implied).
Yet, this premise implies another variable, which is by no means guaranteed the minute you step out of the influencer world: The audience will be forgiving.
I’ve been blessed, and I truly do think of it that way, with an audience that isn’t primarily “forgiving.” I’ve been blessed with friends who’ve pummelled dumb Tweets, editors who’ve sliced apart dumb article pitches, and readers who’ve engaged seriously with arguments I’ve made. It’s a profound disservice to people my age to not call out dumb, youthful BS when it emerges.
Even should such teenage influencers continue in politics, they will tremendously benefit from having the kind of people around them who *don’t* encourage them to tweet/write/publish everything they think—I know I’ve benefitted from this. But should a political influencer, shock and horror, decide they don’t want to do politics anymore and embark on a career of normalcy, the danger of that career being overshadowed by fiery political statements made at 17 is a palpable one.
Yes, there’s an acceptable degree of theoretical risk. Yes, taking on a political career carries with it an inherent risk of heightened public scrutiny/ideological pushback, and you can’t ask for special privilege against that when you willingly step into that arena (not all of the pushback against Greta Thunberg is unacceptable). But let’s look at the human side of this.
In the next 5 to 10 years, we are going to see a lot of talented, passionate GenZers dragged through the mud over premature political careers because no one ever warned them of the risks attached.
That’s not a matter of mockery. That makes me profoundly sad—it’s a bunch of aspiring young people being hit with the blunt end of a ruthless, unforgiving machine many never even knew existed.
Reader’s note: I will be traveling during the next couple of days. Blogging will continue in the new year. Stay warm, and safe travels to all of you.
Cover Photo: Youtube screenshot, “GOP Josh at Freedom Fest on the Farm — 7/29/2023.” Link here.