Our forthcoming book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. The second Trump administration is off to an ominous start.
One of the Trump administration’s deputy press secretaries at the Defense Department has an extensive record of racist, isolationist and ultra-nationalist posts on social media, including pushing discredited conspiracy theories about a Jewish victim of lynching and about Haitian migrants, as well as rejecting U.S. support for Israel and Ukraine.Zachary Basu at Axios:
Kingsley Wilson’s social media attracted attention earlier this week when people started resurfacing posts she shared on X in 2023 and 2024, in which she used a talking point widely repeated by antisemitic advocates: that Leo Frank, a Jewish man convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl and then lynched by a Georgia mob in 1915, but posthumously pardoned decades later, was in fact guilty. Frank is widely believed to have been falsely accused and unjustly convicted. His case led to the formation of the Anti-Defamation League.
Antisemitic conspiracy theories are flooding America's most popular pro-Trump podcasts, exposing deep political and moral fissures at the heart of the new MAGA coalition.
Why it matters: At a moment of record-high antisemitism in the U.S., an astonishing split screen has emerged between the Trump administration and prominent influencers that reliably spread MAGA's message.President Trump has prioritized cracking down on antisemitism and criticism of Israel on college campuses, including by revoking federal funding and arresting pro-Palestinian activists.
But many of the podcasts Trump appeared on during the campaign are simultaneously platforming far-right provocateurs who are openly hostile toward Israel and use racist tropes about Jewish influence.
Driving the news: Conspiracy theories about Israel, Jeffrey Epstein and Jewish elites dominated four MAGA-friendly podcasts last week that had previously hosted Trump. All came out within the same 48-hour period.
- Candace Owens, a pro-Trump lightning rod who left The Daily Wire last year over her embrace of antisemitic rhetoric, was a guest on "This Past Weekend with Theo Von."
- Andrew Tate, the misogynist influencer accused of sex trafficking and rape in Romania, appeared on the Nelk Boys' "Full Send" podcast and Patrick Bet David's "PBD Podcast." He also attended UFC 313 in Las Vegas, where he was welcomed by UFC president and Trump ally Dana White.
- Ian Carroll, an independent researcher who has suggested Israel was involved in 9/11, spent nearly three hours on the biggest platform of all — "The Joe Rogan Experience."
Together, the conversations were broadcast to tens of millions of listeners on Spotify, YouTube and other platforms.
What they're saying: Both sides of the MAGA divide agree that last week marked an inflection point in the mainstreaming of antisemitism on the so-called New Right."For the first time in my lifetime, a lot of successful Jewish friends called me worried this week — names we all know — asking what is going to happen as these libels re-enter the mainstream, and are shared by millions," Palantir co-founder and Trump ally Joe Lonsdale wrote on X.
"We live now in a world where the red pill has gone mainstream," white nationalist Nick Fuentes gleefully declared on his show, rattling off a list of other personalities — including rapper Ye — who are now openly antisemitic.
