Owen Shroyer discusses the new MAGA meme phenomenon where influencers cannot defend Trump's failing policies so they embrace being made fun for the spineless shills that they are because they have no other recourse.
The Bulwark is reporting that at least one of Pete Hegseth's most prominent online defenders is actually being paid by the Pentagon. Jacob Soboroff – in for Nicolle Wallace – is joined by Will Sommer, who authored this reporting, and Miles Taylor for analysis on Deadline White House.
Owen Shroyer says MAGA influencers will soon be unemployed as their audience size dwindles due to Trump's historic unpopularity among young men, who were most of their viewers.
This will be the first election cycle where AI is both a dominant policy debate — and a widely deployed political weapon. Why it matters: AI allows both candidates and bad actors to persuade and perplex with unprecedented speed, scale and precision in our elections. Watch what works, as those same techniques will likely be used against YOU. What to watch: - Persuasion bots. Campaigns are training text bots to hold back-and-forth conversations in their candidate's voice. Some voters engage for HOURS, granting precise knowledge of what ideas and language move them most. Yale researchers found a bot that admits it's a bot is just as persuasive to people as one posing as a human. - Simulated voters. Political operatives are running AI…
This looks very, very ugly
To the Israeli government, enlisting former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale to claw back support among young conservatives who increasingly hold negative or downright hostile views of the Jewish state and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu probably seemed like a brilliant idea. Parscale’s digital influence campaign would all be kept under wraps; none would be the wiser. MAGA social media stars would keep pumping out the posts, and Americans would, after all was said and done, have a rosier picture of Israel and Bibi. In other words, a psyop was needed to convince America that Israel was still an ally. But boy, did it backfire. Read on…Open
Owen Shroyer says that inauthenticity and politically motivated digital campaigns on X are hurting the integrity of the site and leaving the platform vulnerable to foreign influence operations.
"I just have utter contempt for them"
A political operative's birthday message to Senate candidate Mike Rogers backfired on X.
Social media stars have become a magnet for campaigns and political groups that want to push priorities without disclosing where their money is going.
Douglas Rushkoff, author and documentarian, gives his take on whether AI is influencing people’s behavior.