Beyond the manosphere: A new wave of popular political podcasts ascends

With provocative episode titles such as “Trump SCREAMS at Zelenskyy in Oval Office Meltdown" and “GOP Makes FATAL BLUNDER as Voters TURN AGAINST THEM," the MeidasTouch Podcast has been ascendant since President Trump’s inauguration. By some measures, the show has bested the top-ranked podcast, hosted by Joe Rogan, over the past month.

Audiences across the political spectrum are gravitating toward outspoken podcast personalities—many of them the face of new, independent media companies—who often host political figures eager to talk in a casual format to a receptive audience. This wave of podcasts are replacing cable and legacy news outlets as go-to sources for the day’s news, political or otherwise.

Downloads and views of MeidasTouch on platforms including YouTube, Spotify, and Apple, more than doubled over the past month to top 115 million, according to measurement company Podscribe. That total compared with Rogan’s 64 million during the same period. Rogan’s show still has a larger recurring audience on Spotify and more subscribers on YouTube.

The upward trend is apparent on both sides of the aisle. Three podcasts entered the top 50 for the first time during the fourth quarter: the “Shawn Ryan Show," hosted by a former Navy SEAL; “The Charlie Kirk Show," which describes itself as “unapologetically conservative"; and conservative commentator Candace Owens’ “Candace." 

“Pod Save America," a longer running political show hosted by former Obama aides, made its debut to the top 10 podcasts, according to data tracker Edison Research.

“The Ben Shapiro Show," the daily conservative talk show, moved to No. 14 from No. 22 last quarter, and “The Megyn Kelly Show," hosted by the former cable news anchor, jumped to No. 27 from No. 50.

A collection of comedians and online pranksters known as the “manosphere" helped elect Trump, who shared personal details alongside policy proposals on a range of podcasts during his campaign. The Trump administration has opened the White House briefing room to nontraditional outlets including podcast hosts, TikTok influencers and YouTube stars.

Since Trump was elected, listeners have embraced rising shows along with stalwart political podcasts hosted by stars like Rogan, Tucker Carlson and Dan Bongino. Bongino, who is set to become deputy director of the FBI this month, plans to end his show.

‘People trust it more’

Owens, a former political talk show host at “The Daily Wire," launched “Candace" in June as part of her own independent media company. She said the format allows her to take more risks without corporate checks and balances. Downloads and views of “Candace" across platforms were nearly 40 million over the past month, according to Podscribe, notching her at No. 3, behind MeidasTouch and Rogan.

She has pursued investigative series that she said are particularly appealing to women, including one on vaccine skepticism and another on the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni legal drama.

While much of Owens’ work is still in the political realm—“Kamala Chronicles" delved into Kamala Harris’s genealogy ahead of the election—she casts a wide net for topics that might appeal to her audience, much the way manosphere hosts do. One recent series focuses on her prison phone calls with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein that will end with an exclusive interview.

Like many manosphere stars, she has also appeared on other podcasters’ shows.

Owens attributes much of her recent growth to going independent. “People trust it more," she said.

Conservative commentator Candace Owens launched the ‘Candace’ podcast in June as part of her own independent media company.

‘Not a yelling rant’

Priscilla Lawrence, 43 years old, started listening to MeidasTouch after discovering it on TikTok, and is part of a fan base that calls themselves the Meidas Mighty. She had been an avid watcher of CNN and MSNBC, but said she grew frustrated with mainstream media for not holding Trump accountable in the run-up to the election.

“They’re giving the facts and getting to the point," Lawrence, a food blogger in San Diego, said of the Meiselas brothers, who host MeidasTouch. “I want to see what they’re saying."

MeidasTouch punctuates clips of policy decisions, news conferences and Oval Office meetings with the hosts’ unvarnished views. It hosted an exit interview with outgoing President Biden in December, taped in the West Wing of the White House.

Three brothers started “The MeidasTouch Podcast" in 2021, recording conversations they had in a sibling group chat. Ben Meiselas is a lawyer and business partner of former professional football player Colin Kaepernick. Brett Meiselas is a video editor and producer who worked on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show." Jordan Meiselas, or Jordy, was an advertising executive.

Ben often shows charts and graphs alongside newsclips. “I try to bring the evidence to everything," he said. “It’s not a yelling rant."

The Meiselas brothers, who bill themselves as “pro-democracy," tape live from their living rooms, which means audio occasionally picks up on Ben’s baby in the background or a dog barking.

Episodes with the trio drop twice a week and stretch more than an hour. In between, Ben often publishes six more 15-minute podcasts a day. Brett and Jordy record selfie-style 90-second segments summarizing news hits for TikTok, Instagram Reels, X and YouTube Shorts.

“It almost feels like the anti-manosphere," Brett said.