Inside a MAGA influencer’s turn against the right-wing machine

[ZiprHead]

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Few MAGA influencers were as committed to the digital cause as Ashley St. Clair.


The 27-year-old former brand ambassador for the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA published an anti-transgender children’s book, appeared prime-time on Fox News and posted selfies from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.


On X, where St. Clair has more than 1 million followers, she had become a legend: a young conservative woman fighting back against the perceived liberal excesses of “brain rot” feminism and the “‘woke’ agenda” — a reputation that swelled last year, when she revealed that she had secretly had a child with the platform’s multibillionaire owner, Elon Musk.

But in the past few months, St. Clair has become one of the right-wing internet’s most scathing and visible critics. Many of Trump’s top online cheerleaders are actually just mercenaries of the attention economy, she argues, working to turn political outrage and talking points coordinated with administration officials into paid promotional deals.

“There is no free thinking here,” she said in a TikTok video last month about the movement she joined when she was 19. “They are waiting to get marching orders and a direct deposit.”

St. Clair’s transformation from a self-described “good little foot soldier” to MAGA turncoat has unspooled in near-daily monologues to more than 77,000 followers on her TikTok feed, where she applies makeup from her New York apartment and claims to expose the secrets of her former allies and the hidden machinery that made them social media stars.

Her viral criticism has triggered unease across the online right, where some of her ex-compatriots have argued she is a disgruntled attention-seeker moving onto her next grift. Naomi Seibt, a far-right German activist and influencer, said in an X post that St. Clair is “projecting her guilt and bitterness for a decade of selling out onto us.”

Since "influencers" seem to have become a subject here, here is an interesting one.

 

[Bronzeage]

The price of gas and the Iran war, in general, has cleaved off a lot of MAGA support, especially among those of military service age. They aren't going to become Democrats, so there's an opportunity for whoever can get in front of the mob.

 

[Toni]

The price of gas and the Iran war, in general, has cleaved off a lot of MAGA support, especially among those of military service age. They aren't going to become Democrats, so there's an opportunity for whoever can get in front of the mob.

I’m also seeing more talk about the Republican far right wing Abd the Democrat far left wing abandoning the middle and what really needs to happen is that there be a needs to happen is for there to be a third middle ground party. Which I don’t think will happen. But I do think that it is less likely that the more progressive parts of the Democratic Party may need to compromise for the next election cycle or two in order to coax those who are turned off by Trump 2.0. Not the hateful, racist, sexist violent rhetoric—I think the Republican Party is pretty numb to that. They either agree or they think it’s just noise that they can tune out because it doesn’t pertain to them. But you are right-the thought of sending their sons to war and $5+ gasoline will hit people really really hard.

I still say that this time next year, Trump will not be POTUS. I don’t think they can bring themselves to convict on impeachment t charges unless the Dems win really big ( crossing fingers). Perhaps 25th Amendment. Not for being a crazy dangerous lunatic or criminal but his health is obviously failing. Or, and I truly hate to write this but engineering another assassination attempt that will give them cover to invoke martial law and suspend elections, and install JD.

 

[Tigers!]

. Or, and I truly hate to write this but engineering another assassination attempt that will give them cover to invoke martial law and suspend elections, and install JD.

Which assassination attempt was engineered? Cui bono?

 

[TV and credit cards]

Shared with you maybe.

Wikipedia has her as "dark woke" which is just more social media sputum for how to monetize the breakdown of society. What utter pointlessness, a truly pointless existence.
To think she is caring for an infant is the real concern here. The kid is two years old. Even as consciousness evolves within the child, he probably knows something isn't right here. Doesn't know what it is or have much yet to compare it to but something is definitely wrong.
And to think the courts give so much latitude in a parent's right to raise their child as they see fit. In this, they are aiding and abetting the breakdown of society.
I hold hope that my granddaughter's generation can save us from ourselves.

 

[Ford]

The price of gas and the Iran war, in general, has cleaved off a lot of MAGA support, especially among those of military service age. They aren't going to become Democrats, so there's an opportunity for whoever can get in front of the mob.

I’m also seeing more talk about the Republican far right wing Abd the Democrat far left wing abandoning the middle and what really needs to happen is that there be a needs to happen is for there to be a third middle ground party. Which I don’t think will happen. But I do think that it is less likely that the more progressive parts of the Democratic Party may need to compromise for the next election cycle or two in order to coax those who are turned off by Trump 2.0. Not the hateful, racist, sexist violent rhetoric—I think the Republican Party is pretty numb to that. They either agree or they think it’s just noise that they can tune out because it doesn’t pertain to them. But you are right-the thought of sending their sons to war and $5+ gasoline will hit people really really hard.

I still say that this time next year, Trump will not be POTUS. I don’t think they can bring themselves to convict on impeachment t charges unless the Dems win really big ( crossing fingers). Perhaps 25th Amendment. Not for being a crazy dangerous lunatic or criminal but his health is obviously failing. Or, and I truly hate to write this but engineering another assassination attempt that will give them cover to invoke martial law and suspend elections, and install JD.

Just spit-balling it here, but I think that one of the ways that progressives/liberals are missing the boat is by self-identifying as part of "the left." MAGA and the far right (interchangeable in many ways) don't self-identify as being "right wing." They consider themselves/sell themselves as just normal people who want America to be "great again" and if you pressed them might say "yeah, I'm conservative" but think of themselves as part of "the middle." Cognitive dissonance? Sure, but "the left" (which includes Millennial and Gen Z podcasters and "influencers") go out of their way to ask "what can we do...as the left...to bring people into our movement."

This is problematic because for my entire life (and then some) "the left" has been associated with negative stereotypes of anyone to the left of the John Birch Society as being "radical communists." The word "liberal" has become a perjorative in no small part because the right wing has hammered the public over and over again that being "liberal" is BAD. Boomers and even older members of my generation (X) have been conditioned to associate anyone who sidles up to the likes of self-identified "democratic socialists" to be an anathema to everything that "real Americans" stand for.

Is that fair? No, but that's the challenge. While there are a few people on the right who self-identify as Christian Nationalists, there aren't too many who proudly declare "you're damned right I'm a radical right winger." They portray themselves as just normal, reasonable Americans (who just happen to want to wipe out anyone who is not a white, straight, Christian man).

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

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...

But in the past few months, St. Clair has become one of the right-wing internet’s most scathing and visible critics. Many of Trump’s top online cheerleaders are actually just mercenaries of the attention economy, she argues, working to turn political outrage and talking points coordinated with administration officials into paid promotional deals.

“There is no free thinking here,” she said in a TikTok video last month about the movement she joined when she was 19. “They are waiting to get marching orders and a direct deposit.”

...

Since "influencers" seem to have become a subject here, here is an interesting one.

It's a confirmation of top-down structure and even payoffs.

I observed the top-down thing when I subscribed to Heritage foundation emails from Heritage action. They get people riled up over the issue of the day, then tell them they are the "grassroots," then provide them with a toolkit for action, like email templates to begin complaints to their local politicians.

Conservative social media influencers, grass roots action organizations, all have some rich old men behind the curtain.

The real influencers...

 

[ZiprHead]

Shared Article

...

But in the past few months, St. Clair has become one of the right-wing internet’s most scathing and visible critics. Many of Trump’s top online cheerleaders are actually just mercenaries of the attention economy, she argues, working to turn political outrage and talking points coordinated with administration officials into paid promotional deals.

“There is no free thinking here,” she said in a TikTok video last month about the movement she joined when she was 19. “They are waiting to get marching orders and a direct deposit.”

...

Since "influencers" seem to have become a subject here, here is an interesting one.

It's a confirmation of top-down structure and even payoffs.

I observed the top-down thing when I subscribed to Heritage foundation emails from Heritage action. They get people riled up over the issue of the day, then tell them they are the "grassroots," then provide them with a toolkit for action, like email templates to begin complaints to their local politicians.

Conservative social media influencers, grass roots action organizations, all have some rich old men behind the curtain.

The real influencers...

This country would be much better off if a meteor had hit the HF and left it nothing but a smoking crater.

 

[Toni]

. Or, and I truly hate to write this but engineering another assassination attempt that will give them cover to invoke martial law and suspend elections, and install JD.

Which assassination attempt was engineered? Cui bono?

What I actually meant was that they would engineer an assassination attempt, which would be what? the third or fourth assassination attempt? Hence another assassination attempt.

I've seen skepticism about attempts being 'staged' although the consensus seems that they were genuine.

 

[Jarhyn]

Shared Article

...

But in the past few months, St. Clair has become one of the right-wing internet’s most scathing and visible critics. Many of Trump’s top online cheerleaders are actually just mercenaries of the attention economy, she argues, working to turn political outrage and talking points coordinated with administration officials into paid promotional deals.

“There is no free thinking here,” she said in a TikTok video last month about the movement she joined when she was 19. “They are waiting to get marching orders and a direct deposit.”

...

Since "influencers" seem to have become a subject here, here is an interesting one.

It's a confirmation of top-down structure and even payoffs.

I observed the top-down thing when I subscribed to Heritage foundation emails from Heritage action. They get people riled up over the issue of the day, then tell them they are the "grassroots," then provide them with a toolkit for action, like email templates to begin complaints to their local politicians.

Conservative social media influencers, grass roots action organizations, all have some rich old men behind the curtain.

The real influencers...

This country would be much better off if a meteor had hit the HF and left it nothing but a smoking crater.

The problem with this is that then, people might actually come to believe in a loving god, and I think a requirement of a loving god is the act of enforcing ambiguity over their own existence because belief in gods, even real ones, can be harmful in all sorts of ways.

As such, if a loving god wanted to do something about the HF, they would arrange for something a little more mundane and ambiguous -- like an employee burning the place to the ground following an inevitable act of sex abuse.