Cracks in the Trump Manosphere
The potential Gaza takeover, Elon’s video game cheating scandal and crypto “rug pulls” aren't popular with young men
In the aftermath of the 2024 election results, much was made of the rightward shift of young men and the impact of online media on their political beliefs (not least by us!). So it’s notable that in the last month there have been some green shoots of dissent against Trump among young men and the media they consume. To be clear, it’s still very early and Trump starts his term with largely positive approval ratings from men and even 18-29 year olds. However, young men have shown the ability to swing quickly from one side to the other (ex. they voted for Biden in 2020).
Example #1: Comedians Respond To Trump’s Gaza Redevelopment Plans: “Kind of a Genocide” that Would Require American Soldiers
Before the election, Echelon found that 28% of men under 50 followed comedians like Shane Gillis or Theo Von, compared to 12% of the general population; of the people that listened to the show, they favored Trump 56-41: certainly in his favor, but not crushingly so. Gillis became the poster child for cancel culture when he was fired from Saturday Night Live for previous jokes about racism and homophobia. So some might find it surprising that after Trump detailed his plans for the US to take over Gaza and redevelop it, Gillis said, “He was like, I don’t want to say the wrong thing, but it’s gonna be so nice. He was like ‘of course the people, but also it’s gonna be so nice.’ Dude, I watched the whole thing. He’s nuts. I mean, it’s fun to watch if he’s not talking about [other: “genocide?] kind of a genocide. If he’s not talking about ethnic cleansing it’s really fun.”
A 2024 Reagan Institute Summer Survey found that men under 45 were 12 points less likely than the general population (49% to 61%) to agree that “a strong U.S. military is essential to maintaining peace and prosperity, both at home and abroad.” Bloomberg’s excellent analysis of the content of popular men’s podcasts leading up to the election found that “After voting, war was the most mentioned issue, appearing in 33% of highly-viewed videos. Broadcasters, who tended to be anti-war and isolationist, discussed geopolitics and global conflict, including pontificating about the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars. They also speculated about foreign adversaries, including North Korea and China. In eight out of nine shows, hosts and guests painted Trump as a peacekeeper, pushing the idea that there were no wars when he was serving as US president. The US was involved in armed conflicts overseas at that time.”
Rand Paul doesn’t usually come to mind in discussions of the manosphere, but he has long been a leading voice of American isolationism. After Trump’s Gaza comments, Paul wrote, “The pursuit for peace should be that of the Israelis and the Palestinians. I thought we voted for America First. We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers blood.”
Example #2: Musk’s Favorability Has Dropped Significantly With Young Men, Maybe Because He Cheats At Video Games
Echelon’s survey found that 31% of men under 50 followed Elon Musk on Twitter/X, compared to 16% of the general population. YMRP’s survey found that 68% of men 18-29 liked Musk (even if they don’t always trust his views).
And yet, since he has joined the new Administration and launched DOGE, Elon Musk’s favorability has dropped significantly, and multiple surveys show Americans disapprove of his takeover of the federal government. Change Research (shout out to their Data Portal) found that among the general population, it has dropped 6 points (from -12 to -18) between November of 2022 and January of 2025. However, among men 18-34, the drop was 16 points (going from -8 to -24).
The reasons for Musk’s popularity decline are surely multifaceted, given that an all-powerful rich man is the bad guy throughout popular culture, but it shouldn’t be overlooked that the online gaming world has been “disgusted” with a Musk cheating scandal. YMRP’s survey in 2024 found that among men 18-29 who play video games, 54% do for 2 or more hours per day. Their interest is not casual, and Musk’s transgression probably isn’t a small one.
Example #3: Small Crypto Traders–Disproportionately Young Men–Have Lost $2B on Trump’s Memecoin, While Trump Made Millions
Echelon’s survey found that while 12% of the overall population bought or invested in crypto, that figure was 28% for men under 50. Overall, men are twice as likely as women to invest in crypto. Change Research found in 2024 that men 18-34 were 10 points more likely (70% compared to 60%) than the rest of the population to agree that “individuals should have the freedom to access and trade cryptocurrencies to have more control over their own money, even if it is a high risk marketplace.”
The day before the inauguration, Trump launched a memecoin, a largely speculative crypto coin. Reuters found that the coin racked up nearly $100 million in trading fees, and that “At least fifty of the largest investors in the coin have made profits in excess of $10 million each on the $Trump coin, according to Chainalysis.” The New York Times has totaled the losses at $2 billion for 810,000 wallets. Wired found evidence that early investors may have been tipped off and a few traders made off quite well. But it was a bad look for an industry that has been fighting for legitimacy and against perceptions that it’s all a scam. Nic Carter, who runs the crypto investment firm Castle Island Ventures, said the coin “makes it all look corrupt and self-interested.”
The same Echelon poll found that 24% of men under 50 follow Dave Portnoy, or Barstool Sports, compared to 10% of the overall population. Following Trump’s memecoin, Portnoy wrote:
“I have a dumb 2 part question.
1. What’s the difference between the Hawk Tuah coin and the Trump coin besides nothing?
2. Can I string up my own coin now and tell people it’s a Ponzi scheme from the jump and I’m gonna rug pull at some point and you better just hope you’re out when I do it and that would make the entire thing legal? $trump”
Great writeup of how in just a few weeks into the new administration, some of the "promises" made that young men supported are already unraveling. I'm surprised that so many would fall for the classic meme coin rug pull which has been going on for years.
An interesting take, but I feel like ecosystem effects should be considered here. As a long time Democratic consultant I'm painfully aware that roughly half of the things voters enthusiastically say they want them enrage those same voters if it's ever actually tried, see also the ACA, both in its passage and gradual dissolution. To a certain extent these voters were going to immediately sour anyway, because they show up for the religious aspects of American politics rather than actually wanting them to happen.
I also know that the more words go into a statement, the more confused voters get and the less consistent their behavior is. You can slice "US military is good" into any number of hypotheticals that would say the same thing on the structural merits, and get completely different answers from the same respondent. People simply don't walk around engaging with what the government does on a daily basis, because they neither need nor want to know.
As an actor within the system, I do not put much stock in these early measurements specifically because they are at a point of high uncertainty where no one knows what is going on, especially the current White House.