Online ‘influencer’ antics reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of Trump supporters.
You may have missed it, but something called Sodagate went down on X over the March 21-22 weekend. Online influencers tried to harness the principles of MAGA for their own, decidedly less pure, ends – with Big Soda footing the bill. It’s an inescapable problem all successful grassroots movements must face, and the dominance of social media today only makes the issue more palpable.
“Exposed: ‘Influenceable’ – the company cutting big checks to ‘influencers’ on behalf of Big Soda,” is how podcast host and “accidental journalist” Nick Sortor titled his explainer on the affair. Sortor has 942,000 followers on X and thus holds a considerable amount of sway himself in pro-Donald Trump circles on the platform.
