The podcast establishment that isn't

In the aftermath of the 2024 election, a narrative has taken hold in certain media circles: that a handful of podcasters—mostly comedians—constitute a "new establishment" that swung the outcome. Asmongold and his guest are having none of it. The host points out that Kamala Harris "had a 1% fucking approval rating in the Democratic primary in 2020" and was "a flop" even among her own party's voters. Her communication strategy, he says, "was pretty weak. I think most people have admitted that." To pin the defeat on a few podcasts rather than on the candidate and platform themselves is, in his view, a convenient excuse.

The arithmetic of influence

The core argument here is about scale. The guest pushes back on the idea that podcasters like Theo Vaughn or Joe Rogan wield power comparable to the institutions that backed Harris. "If the idea is that me and a few comedians have more power than multi-billionaires, huge media institutions, a whole political party apparatus," he says, "I just don't think most people are going to buy that." The host agrees, adding that the claim seems like "a great way to excuse running an unpopular candidate on a platform that American people weren't sold on."