As Traditional Media Wanes..Meet The New Media Influencers

Traditional media is losing its influence under Trump. Axios has compiled the media pecking order for the start of Donald Trump's tenure as 47th President.

The media power brokers in the new Trump administration are different and more powerful than those during the first Trump presidency. They are younger, more visual, less established in Washington, and lean more toward MAGA conservative principles over traditional Republican ideals.

Why it matters: Americans' rejection of soft liberalism at the polls was also a rebuke of the media forces that powered it.While Trump appeared regularly on Fox News in the run-up to the general election, his lack of investment in most traditional TV and print outlets didn't hurt his campaign.

Who's in

1. RFK Jr. influencers: One of the biggest shifts that propelled the second Trump campaign online was the adoption of RFK Jr.'s social media following.

• RFK Jr.'s anti-Big Pharma worldview attracted a crop of female celebrities and influencers that turned to MAGA politics after RFK Jr. ended his campaign and backed Trump, including fitness personality Jillian Michaels, former ESPN host Sage Steele, former race car driver Danica Patrick and former Democrat-turned-Republican Tulsi Gabbard. (Steele, as Axios has reported, is vying for a White House press secretary role.)
• In embracing some of RFK Jr.'s health positions, such as vaccine skepticism, the Trump campaign was able to tap into an audience of women and mothers concerned about health, a social media executive who worked on the campaign said.

2. The organic media gurus: Some existing social media voices that have grown even more powerful within Trump's orbit over the past four years will continue to play a big role in amplifying Trump's message and organizing support.

• While the Harris campaign spent millions to promote their message through paid online influencers, the Trump team relied on the megaphones of personalities with large online followings like Charlie Kirk and Jack Posobiec to help amplify Trump's message organically, especially on X.
• "No influencer deserves more credit than the biggest influencer of them all, President Donald J. Trump. His reach and connection with his followers is unrivaled," said Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump campaign adviser who authored a book on conservative social media strategy.
• Reality check: Trump's publicly traded social media platform Truth Social is valued at over $6 billion. It's unclear how Trump plans to leverage the platform as president, but his posts typically garner more interactions on X.

3. Independent streamers: Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Steve Bannon and other independent voices with video podcasts and streaming platforms are poised for growth in a second Trump administration, said Howard Polskin, founder of TheRighting, a newsletter that tracks right-wing media.

• Kelly is "poised to make a major leap forward as a more influential podcast," Polskin said. With a consistently growing audience and subscription base, she has become "the most influential right-wing female podcaster out there."
• Bannon, in an interview with Axios, said his "War Room" podcast and streaming shows are now supported by nearly 30 employees. He plans to double down on "War Room" town halls and continue to stream his show on Real America's Voice, a conservative cable network.
• Of note: While Trump leaned into podcast hosts with massive young male followings during the election, such as Joe Rogan and Theo Von, those personalities aren't expected to join the MAGA pack. Their commitment will continue to be to disaffected young men broadly who hate establishment media, not to true believers on the fringe.

4. Elon Musk and free speech techies: X continues to be the dominant social discourse app in America, despite efforts from new entrants like Threads to Truth Social, according to data from Similarweb.

• The relationship between Musk and Trump is growing closer by the day, Axios' Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei report. Trump has already begun to leverage Musk's authority on the platform to successfully amplify his demand for Senate Republicans to allow recess appointments for his Cabinet picks.
• But it's not just X. Substack recently raised money from a broad range of strategic investors, including conservative media backer Omeed Malik. Conservative streamer Rumble said it set records on Election Day.

5. Conservative entertainers: The rise of conservative movies, series and documentaries from companies like the Daily Wire, Fox Nation and Tucker Carlson Network will continue in the Trump era."

• Art of the Surge," a docuseries inside the Trump campaign produced by Carlson's media company, was the top show for purchase on Apple TV last weekend.
• The Daily Wire's feature "Am I Racist?" was the highest-grossing documentary at the U.S. box office in the past six years.
• Fox Nation, the subscription streaming service from Fox News, plans to release a new Kevin Costner show in the first quarter of 2025. Fox Nation recently announced a deal with Martin Scorsese to bring a faith-based series to the service this fall.

6. The New York Post and Fox News: The Post was one of two newspapers in the top 100 by circulation in the U.S. that endorsed Trump this year. It was one of the only print outlets to land an interview with the former president this cycle.

• Trump's love-hate relationship with Fox News didn't stop him from making nearly 20 appearances on the network between August and the November election. Cable is still important to the 78-year-old.
• Before Trump launched Truth Social, many of his email and website links were to fringe right-wing blogs and sites. Today, Trump relies mostly on link-outs from his website and Truth Social to the NY Post and Fox News, per an analysis from Polskin.

Who's out

1. Fringe websites: Outlets that saw traffic surges during the first Trump administration, such as Breitbart, Gateway Pundit and Infowars, have seen significant traffic declines following the decline of news distribution on Facebook. (Infowars has struggled amid legal problems and bankruptcy.)

• Broadly speaking, those sites haven't expanded as successfully into new platforms, like podcasts and TikTok, limiting their distribution and power on most platforms but X.
• "Newsmax is the only one that's been consistently up since February compared to four years ago," Polskin said, noting the network is "poised to be much stronger and influential."
• Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a longtime friend of Trump's, believes his network is poised to accelerate in a Trump regime. Newsmax has said that it plans to go public this year or in 2025.

2. Republican radio: A slew of conservative radio hosts, such as Dana Loesch, Erick Erickson and Mark Levin, who have tried to fill the void left by the late Rush Limbaugh don't have the same access and viral prowess as the new-age MAGA podcasters.While radio is still the top medium in America in terms of weekly reach, the new MAGA media powerhouses mostly aren't radio personalities.

3. Drudge Report: Once the biggest distributor of news traffic on the internet, Drudge Report has seen its internet traffic decline significantly. (Drudge famously turned on Trump after 2016.)

• Citizen Free Press, a similarly formatted conservative news distribution blog, is gaining steam, Bannon said.

4. Conservative X rivals: Conservative social media sites that gained traction following the Jan. 6 Capitol siege have struggled to break through amid competition from X and Truth Social.

• Usage of apps like Gab, Gettr and Parler pale in comparison to X, as does the usage of most social discourse platforms, like Bluesky, Mastodon and Threads.

The bottom line: "Traditional media is losing its influence under Trump. Personalities with larger platforms and access to information and power are the new sheriffs in town," said Garrett Ventry, co-founder of the conservative Capitol Hill newsletter The Washington Reporter and Republican public affairs executive.