On Deadline: White House, Angelo Carusone explains Trump's growing rift with the manosphere

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the May 27, 2026, edition of MS NOW's Deadline: White House

NICOLLE WALLACE (HOST): I went back and listened to something that you and I have talked about a lot, probably more than my audience wanted to hear about it, and that is the manosphere bump that Trump got ahead of the 2024 election. And I think I misunderstood some of that as people really vibing with him. And there was some of that, but it was like equal parts vibing with Trump because he showed up, hating the left and misrepresenting all of the left with some policies that were unpopular politically. And then the third piece really was like economic viability, or I'll be more blunt, being rich. I mean, there really was a luster to aspirational wealth, and that makes up sort of the manosphere vibes that boosted Trump. I personally think it was determinative in his ability to win in 2024. 

There is no more shining the economy. It sucks, and a lot of Republicans think it sucks as well. There is no more vibes. I mean, Trump falls asleep in -- I mean, the White House is the most press controlled White House in terms of where they let the cameras in. He is asleep in all of his own events, and there is so much makeup on his face, but they can't find enough to cover the bruises on his hands. So, there's no more vibing on the manliness of Trumpism. And, you know, the third piece of that is evaporated as well. I mean, the whole idea that he was this good choice for young men seems to be gone. Where do you see his political coalition today?

ANGELO CARUSONE (GUEST): Yeah. I mean, that part of the coalition is fractured and certainly gone. Now, whether they'll ultimately be aligned with his interests and they overlap over time, you kind of hinted at it, which is that they're not really going to support Democrats right now, so they may stay home. They're going to lean toward anti-establishment candidates, right, and anti-establishment figures. And that's kind of the direction they're going to go in. And that fetishization piece on sort of their own pockets was a big factor. They thought that Trump was going to do things to the economy, or at minimum, he was going to be really good for the speculative investments around crypto that they'd be able to, you know, pump and dump, ride the wave, make some money, make a quick buck and move on, right?

There was a financial interest there and that seemed to overlap with Trump. And they were also mad at Biden because they felt like, hey, they're out here telling us how great the economy is when we don't feel it. And they're even further detached and disconnected. So, that part of it is -- you know, they're not going to be with Trump anymore, but they're not going to be with Democrats. So, the so what of it is that it doesn't have a huge political effect? You know, to the extent that the midterms are going to be a referendum on Trump, some of them may peel off and vote against Trump locally, but I just don't think they're going to be as big of a factor. 

And this is where the flip side comes in. There's going to be a little bit of bread and circuses along the way. They'll come back around or temper on things related to MAHA. And we see that every so often with peptides and other things where they bring in Rogan or they, you know, tout out RFK, Jr. to sort of just appeal to them a little bit, give them something to distract them, to engage them. There'll be some stuff around UFC and that cultural part of it, but he's not getting them back. And that's the reveal here. Because then what does Trump do? He goes back to his old playbook, which is organize and build power on what used to be considered the fringes. So, he's lost the kinetic energy of this third part of his coalition, this sort of manosphere piece. He needs to replace it. 

And that slush fund isn't just purely corruption. It is. It certainly is. But it's also calculation, which is that I am going to incentivize a whole bunch of extremists to be confident and comfortable and get out there and get excited, because I'm going to need them to do things. I'm going to need to reactivate that part of my coalition and grow it, because I need to replace some energy that I've now lost as a part of the manosphere. And so I think those two stories are actually linked. He's lost that one piece of it. He's replacing it with these extremists. And that's the way that that conversation has been activated in that part of the media landscape. Enrique Tarrio, who's former head of the Proud Boys, for instance, has been talking about how much excitement there is from J6ers and his people are being able to dip into those funds. So, you know, that part of the coalition is going to -- they're going to keep taking shots on the sidelines. They're going to make Trump not cool and they're going to make fun of him, but they're not going to help Democrats in midterms, and they shouldn't rely on them or beyond that. And Trump is going to replace that with something much scarier and frankly, more violent.