Trump, who was convicted of 34 felonies in May and welcomed climate change because it would create more waterfront property, ran a nativist campaign based on promises to deport millions of unauthorized immigrants and impose tariffs on imports from countries foreigners, what many economists have said. would create a depression. The 78-year-old billionaire has also vowed to roll back environmental policies and protections, severely restrict the rights of transgender people and seek revenge against his political enemies.
In the final days of the campaign, Trump-aligned representatives and influencers, like Musk, pushed for more men to vote for Trump. For months, Trump and his vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, appeared on dozens of podcasts aimed at young men. Trump sat down with popular Kick streamer Adin Ross for a live video at Mar-a-Lago over the summer, joined wrestler and former vlogger Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast, and brought along many influencers, including the Nelk Boys, to the electoral campaign.
After the July assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Musk formally endorsed Trump. “I fully support President Trump and look forward to his quick recovery,” Musk published in X at that time.
Musk subsequently donated more than $100 million to support Trump’s re-election and turned his X platform into a megaphone for the former president. Musk’s America PAC, along with Turning Point Action, ran Trump’s canvassing operations in states including Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin. Some of these surveyors were denied pay and forced to work in unsafe conditions, such as being transported in the back of a U-Haul without seat belts, WIRED reported.
Other influencers also provided support for Trump. On Thursday, influencer and boxer Jake Paul formally endorsed Trump in a video published on X. On Monday, Joe Rogan did the same in a post sharing his most recent podcast episode with Musk. Paul has over 20 million subscribers on YouTube and Rogan hosts the most popular podcast in the US with over 14 million followers on Spotify.
“They have demeaned and belittled our amazing men for far too long,” Ashley St. Clair said in an X post on Monday. “Men must VOTE!”
In the run-up to the election, polls suggested a deep shift toward Harris among independent and high-ranking women, apparently fueled by the Supreme Court’s overturning of federal abortion rights and a subsequent wave of unpopular restrictions backed by Republicans at the state level. In the end, however, Trump’s strategy of attracting voters in deindustrialized and economically distressed regions triumphed, while narrowing the margins between traditionally overwhelmingly Democratic minority constituencies.
Republicans will take back the Senatemaking it much easier for the incoming Trump administration to confirm judges and Cabinet officials. The balance of power in the House of Representatives has not yet been decided.
