The Splintering MAGA Media Rage Machine
Pod Save America
Pod Save America
4.5 • 87.3K Ratings
🗓️ 7 June 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
Will Sommer, author of The Bulwark's "False Flag" newsletter, sits down with Tommy to talk about the MAGA media world — including the right-wing personalities who may be considering a political future (Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens), those whose influence is crumbling (Ben Shapiro), and some of the most troubling — and strangest — rising voices. Tommy and Will then break down the ways some of MAGA's leading voices are abandoning the president, what their world will look like and whether it can even survive in a post-Trump future.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Tommy Vitor. As we speak, the MAGA media world is fracturing. |
| 0:27.4 | And many of its leading voices are desperately trying to figure out what a post-Trump MAGA movement will mean for them. |
| 0:34.5 | For some, this is about business. They want to know if they can maintain the |
| 0:37.7 | same level of clicks, of ad sales, of paid promotion deals in a post-Trump political world. |
| 0:43.0 | But for others, it's about influence and a desire to steer the Republican Party to a new place. |
| 0:48.9 | In some cases, a much more extreme place. What we're talking about is ultimately a battle for the |
| 0:53.1 | sole and attention |
| 0:54.5 | of the Maga movement. And it's being fought as we speak in the podcast, YouTube, and TikTok trenches, |
| 1:00.7 | often on shows or on platforms that most Democrats have never heard of, but have enormous reach |
| 1:05.6 | and influence in conservative circles, especially younger conservative circles. So to help |
| 1:10.7 | me understand and track where the Maga movement is going, I'm joined today by |
| 1:14.4 | Will Summer from the bulwark. |
| 1:16.5 | Will's newsletter, False Flag, is a twice-weekly deep dive into right-wing online culture |
| 1:21.0 | in the communities around it, and it is a must-read for me every week. |
| 1:24.7 | He has an unparalleled understanding of who makes up this world, |
| 1:28.5 | where it's going, what they're talking about, the weird, petty, pathetic infighting between them. |
| 1:33.0 | It is fascinating stuff. Now, unfortunately for all of us, right-wing media is incredibly |
| 1:37.8 | popular, which is why we here at Crooked Media are trying to create a progressive alternative. |
| 1:42.9 | The best way you can help us is to become a friend of the pod subscriber. For about 10 bucks a month, you get bonus episodes of Pod Save America, you get ad-free episodes, you get deep dive since the latest polling data from Dan Pfeiffer and tons more bonus content. And you also can get discounted tickets to our upcoming CrookedCon conference and fun on-site perks. So check that out. Go to crooked.com slash friends to learn more. And now here's my conversation with Will Summer. |
| 2:11.9 | So Will, your co-worker Sarah Longwell got a bunch of grief recently for saying that a surprising name keeps coming |
| 2:18.5 | up in her focus groups when she's asking people who they think should run for president. |
| 2:23.2 | Candice Owen. |
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