The Most Powerful Politics Influencers Barely Post About Politics

New research shows that social media creators have enormous influence over their audiences' politics--especially those who don't normally share political content. Donald Trump's appearances on the podcasts of Joe Rogan and Theo Von, among others, were seen by many as a key part of securing his second term in office. But while Trump was speculating about alien life on Mars with Rogan, he had a team of acolytes appearing on dozens, if not hundreds, of much smaller niche podcasts hosted by right-wing content creators who typically don't talk about politics. This is how, just six days before the election, Kash Patel, the man now struggling to run the FBI, ended up appearing on the livestream, a fringe, QAnon-infused show hosted on a platform called Pilled. "The Deep State exists," Patel told the audience.