144: Content Creators for the Authoritarian State feat. Josh Kovensky
Show notes
Got a problem with the liberal media? Dispatch a squad of "investigative entertainers": young right-wing creators who pantomime scrappy, on-the-ground reporting while pumping out propaganda for the Trump administration.
On this episode, Jared and Mike welcome Josh Kovensky, an investigative reporter at Talking Points Memo who has tracked the administration's collaborations with these types of creators. Together, they walk through a rogues' gallery of the genre: Nick Shirley, the former prank YouTuber whose Minneapolis daycare video earned him a Pulitzer endorsement from JD Vance, and loudmouths Nick Sortor and Cam Higby, who joined the influencer press corps DHS courted in Portland and Minneapolis. They also meet flagpole-injury survivor Katie Daviscourt; TPUSA contributor Savanah Hernandez, whose résumé starts at Infowars; and Tyler Oliveira, whose bigoted "investigations" into Haitian, Somali, Indian, and Hasidic communities push further than even most of his peers dare to go.
Democracy dies in darkness, so make sure you keep the ring light on.
Links for Josh:
Extremely Online: Minnesota ‘Antifa’ Cases Born of Internet Beef With Far-right Activists
Inside the Bizarre Feedback Loop Between DHS and MAGA Influencers
X: @joshkovensky / Bluesky: @joshkovensky.bsky.social
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Transition Music: “Pocket” by Low Gary