• Newsmax’s Carl Higbie: “If your opinion has gone negative of Trump, especially in the last few weeks, folks, you are likely a victim of a massive psy-ops.”

The top tier of the MAGA influencer ecosystem is a clownshow. But Benny Johnson stands out, even among the collection of cranks, grifters, propagandists, and sycophants. He has managed to parlay having absolutely nothing to add to any conversation into a lucrative career as a shill for President Donald Trump. 

Johnson has had perhaps the most reach of any streamer on the right in 2025. His YouTube videos have amassed more than 1 billion views total this year. His YouTube subscriber base has grown by nearly 120%, with his 3.3 million new subscribers representing the largest total increase among the 400+ channels we track that are affiliated with right-leaning and left-leaning online shows.

With that rise comes an easy avenue for Trump to peddle his propaganda to an ever-growing audience. Johnson has generally stayed out of the infighting squabbles inside MAGA media by making Trump his top priority. 

Johnson falsely claimed antifa had conquered Portland in order to defend Trump’s desire to send troops to American cities. He has defended Trump’s tariff regime. He defended Trump accepting a Qatari jet. He has called for former President Barack Obama to stand trial in a military tribunal. And the list goes on and on. As a reward for acting as Trump’s second mouth, Johnson has received access to the administration, which he often brags about on his show.  

Johnson’s rise demonstrates that what drives influence within the MAGAsphere is not diligent reporting or willingness to speak truth to power, but a willingness to loudly say whatever will make the president happy. 

Media Matters’ Matt Gertz wrote this fantastic primer on Johnson.

• Podcaster Shawn Ryan, who supported Trump in the 2024 election, said, “Nothing I voted for happened.” 
• Podcaster Tom Dillon criticized Trump’s handling of the Epstein disclosures: “It certainly seems that he doesn’t want these documents to come out because he himself will suffer some fallout.”

A growing number of right-wing figures are criticizing Donald Trump’s economic decisions, foreign policies, and continued handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Some in right-wing media are even declaring that the Trump-centric “MAGA movement” is “dead.” 

While some right-wing figures have been splitting with Trump over supposed “America First” issues, such as conflict in Israel, right-wing media were recently thrown into crisis over former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with white nationalist streamer and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. The conflict inside the MAGA world over this interview has sparked disarray, as we’ve discussed in previous newsletters. 

Here are some examples of pundits questioning the future of MAGA: 

• Podcaster Candace Owens published a video declaring, “Last Call for the MAGA Party.” 
• “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander posted, “MAGA is dead.” 
• Former Daily Wire host Brett Cooper criticized Trump’s economic policies in an episode of her YouTube show emblazoned with a thumbnail asking, “Is MAGA dead?” 

The viability of the MAGA coalition over the next three years, let alone after Trump’s presidency, is an open question. But one thing is clear — the fractures are already spreading.

• Newsmax’s Michael Savage said, “The American worker right now is hurting badly,” adding, “This administration is now almost 100% tone-deaf to what's actually going on down on the elbow-thrashing level of reality.”

Donald Trump and right-wing media have been quick to cite fentanyl interdiction as the supposed justification for the administration’s likely illegal strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, which they have blamed on so-called “narco-terrorists” tied to the regime of President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. But reporting has shown the Trump administration’s excuses are built on lies — with virtually no fentanyl arriving in the United States via routes being targeted by the military in a bombing campaign that has already claimed at least 83 lives. 

This isn’t the first time Trump and his media allies have used fentanyl as an excuse for his out-of-control policies, as it was used to justify his instigation of a trade war with Mexico and Canada earlier this year. The Trump administration’s military buildup also follows multiple actions that undermine efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. 

Like we saw with Iraq 20 years ago, the president’s right-wing media allies are yet again constructing a case built on lies to foment war with a sovereign country.