WEST PALM BEACH, Fla — President-elect Trump turned to podcasts during the 2024 election cycle, rallying support primarily among young men who have trended rightward in recent years and contributed to Trump’s massive victory.

“I want to thank a few people real quick,” UFC CEO Dana White said from the podium on election night after Trump’s win, thanking a list of podcasters who spoke to Trump on the campaign trail. “I would like to thank the Nelk Boys, Aidan Ross, Theo Von, Boston, Bussin with the Boys and last but not least the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.”

Before President Biden dropped out of the race, and before he faced two assassination attempts and poured hours of work into seven key battleground states and beyond, Trump joined the popular podcast “Full Send,” aka “Nelk Boys,” for a week Interview in March 2022. This interview marked his entry into the podcast world while appealing to a constituency of young men. Trump spoke not only about his politics and his vision for the United States, but also about his family and his sports, giving voters a glimpse into his life beyond politics.

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The interview with the Nelk Boys covered Trump’s golf game, his favorite songs like “YMCA” and “Hold on I’m Coming” that he played on the campaign trail, and his thoughts on the Biden administration’s handling of COVID and Russia.

“If you upload this whole interview, let’s see what happens when Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and all of them take it down,” Trump quipped during the podcast, only to later remove the interview from YouTube, sparking a firestorm of condemnation by Trump.

Trump’s victory proves the importance of candid, long-form podcasts as the platform shows the “human side” of a candidate

“What happened to free speech in our country? “Incredibly, but not surprisingly, the Big Tech crazies have deleted my interview with the very popular NELK Boys so that no one can see it or listen to it in any way,” the 45th president said in a statement released at the time by his Save America PAC was published.

“In the 24 hours it existed, it beat every record many times over,” he continued. “Interestingly, I told them on the show that this would happen because Big Tech and the fake news media are afraid of the truth, they are afraid of criticism of Biden and especially because they are not talking about the rigged 2020 presidential election want to talk, all topics.” discussed.”

In 2024, Trump again joined the Nelk Boys and a host of other podcasts to gain the support of young men, including Joe Rogan, who hosts the most popular podcast in the US with 14.5 million followers on Spotify alone and supported Trump just a day before the election.

In August of this year, the Nelk Boys debuted “Send the Vote” on their podcast, a massive nonpartisan voter initiative aimed at youth, particularly young men.

“Making a post on Instagram or making a tweet, that’s cool,” Kyle Forgeard, one of the Nelk Boys, said in a promotional video back in August, the Wall Street Journal reported. “But every single one of you has to register to vote and you have to make your voice heard. Don’t be lazy, send your ballot in the mail, do whatever you have to do, plan it.”

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Armed with a budget of approximately $20 million, Send the Vote placed ad buys targeting 1.1 million inactive, registered male voters between the ages of 18 and 34. The ads reached more than 35 million people, Fox News Digital learned, while countless others also saw the ads through the Nelk Boys’ social media accounts.

SendTheVote.com received more than 2 million visitors, while 210,000 first-time voters who saw the ads and then voted and 110,000 people who visited the site requested reminders to vote.

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Send the Vote reached more than 140 million people through influencers, nearly 1 million through streamed content and nearly 7 million people specifically through podcasts, Fox Digital learned. Send the Vote ads have been featured on other hugely popular podcasts, including the comedy shows KillTony, Theo Von, Tim Dillon, as well as the sports-focused podcast “BS with Jake Paul” and viral TikTok star Hailey Welch’s “Talk Tuah” Podcast.

Send the Vote launched tailgate events during the Penn State vs. Wisconsin game in October, targeting young voters in two battleground states. Volunteers knocked on fraternity house doors and held a voter registration concert in Atlanta with pro-Trump rapper Waka Flocka Flame.

“Too many people in our country have felt like their voices don’t matter and that the hurdles to real change are too great to overcome. The goal of Send the Vote was to break down these barriers and remind our audience that posting on social media doesn’t count as a vote and they have to physically show up to vote – it’s not as difficult as they are represent. – John Shahidi, co-founder of Full Send, told Fox News Digital.

Among Gen Z men and Millennials, Trump’s focus on podcasts rather than traditional media interviews this election cycle has paid off. The Fox News voter poll released earlier this month found that men ages 18 to 44 supported Trump at 53%, compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 45%.

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Along with the Nelk Boys and other podcasters highlighting Trump, Rogan’s endorsement of the 45th president was seen as a huge success. The former and future president accompanied Rogan on his podcast for a three-hour interview before the election. Harris was offered the same interview, but Rogan rejected her campaign’s demands to shorten the interview and move it away from the studio, he previously said.

Trump attended a UFC fight in New York City after the election and was seen hugging Rogan in a viral video.

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On election night, when Trump was projected to win, the UFC’s Dana White celebrated the podcasters who introduced Trump to their audience, adding that “karma” had caught up with the Democrats.

“No one deserves this more than him, and no one deserves this more than his family,” White said on election night. “This is what happens when the machine comes after you. What you’ve seen in the last few years is what it looks like. Couldn’t stop him, he keeps going, he doesn’t give up, he’s the best.” The most resilient, hardworking man I’ve ever met in my life, his family are incredible people.

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“This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family.”