FOR decades, Republicans railed against what they saw as a liberal media establishment shaping American politics from the left.
Nearly a year into United States President Donald Trump‘s second term, that narrative is flipping.
A new constellation of influencers, billionaire moguls and social-media platforms — many embracing or amplifying White House themes — is pulling the nation’s information ecosystem to the right.
They have become a potent force in a widening campaign of retribution against perceived enemies of the Trump administration.
As Trump deploys National Guard troops into cities, influencers embedded with figures such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have shared content echoing the administration’s portrayal of Democratic-led cities as engulfed in chaos, even as law enforcement data shows violent crime declining in most urban areas.
Inside the White House, the president invited right-wing media personalities to join senior officials at the State Dining Room, soliciting their input and criticising traditional news outlets — all on live television.
Other episodes underscore this symbiotic relationship. In April, more than a dozen national security officials were dismissed amid an influencer-led campaign.
“We’re seeing how the confluence of social media influencers is being amplified by forces in the government,” said University of Maryland Professor Sarah Oates, who has studied Russian propaganda for 30 years.
“There’s an argument to be made that they’re not influencers, they’re propagandists.”
By shaping narratives in real time — and at times echoing the White House’s false claims — the president’s aligned media figures can blunt unfavourable coverage and fortify Trump’s base at a scale perhaps unmatched by any previous president.
In July, after a Justice Department review found no new evidence of wrongdoing in the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal, many of them expressed outrage, but largely spared Trump from criticism.
Newsmax TV host Rob Schmitt told Reuters his fellow conservative media figures backed away from the Epstein story for fear of angering the White House.
A Newsmax spokesperson said of its Epstein coverage: “Newsmax has never coordinated with the White House on this matter.”
Republican leaders have castigated the media for generations as liberal. Barry Goldwater mocked the “eastern liberal press” during his 1964 presidential campaign.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich attacked the “liberal elite media” in the 1990s. Trump branded them as “fake news” and “the enemy of the people”.
A Reuters analysis of posts, shows and podcasts by 22 right-wing influencers and conservative personalities revealed steadfast loyalty to Trump.
This is a sharp break from the friction between political leaders and the press that has defined US politics since the days of president Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal of the 1970s.
The Epstein case offers an example. In February, a group of influencers met Trump and senior officials at the White House to discuss the matter.
Under pressure from conservative influencers, the Justice Department reassigned hundreds of FBI agents and analysts from other pending criminal investigations to review tens of thousands of documents related to Epstein, current and former agents said.
So when the Justice Department said in early July that the review found no credible evidence to support Epstein conspiracy theories, some leading Trump influencersexpressed surprise and disap-pointment.
The Epstein scandal has strained the relationship between Trump and his coterie of influencers, but not broken it.
This was illustrated in posts by right-wing activist Jack Posobiec, a combative influencer with 3.2 million followers on X.
After Trump directed Justice Department officials to ask courts to unseal grand jury transcripts in the Epstein case — a move many legal scholars called performative, correctly predicting the request would be denied — Posobiec reaffirmed his loyalty to the president.
“The MAGA hat stays on. That’s the brave new world of this media landscape right now.”
* The article is from Reuters
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