Is Barron Trump the most powerful teen in America?

The 18-year-old has been a pivotal in Trump's strategy to target Gen Z men... and it's working

Before we get into the Trump stuff (which is exclusively available for paid subscribers) let’s get started with what’s catching fire this week…

The eat the rich memo once again went unread

I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to write about the inability of celebrities and publicists to read the room but here we are again picking over the debris following another entirely avoidable PR car crash.

This time it involves the Kardashians and the stars of the upcoming movie Wicked, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. On Tuesday they all enjoyed a private screening of the movie, an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, at Kim’s home in Los Angeles.

Kim, and sister Kylie, shared videos and pictures of the watch party on Instagram and in doing so revealed the lavish decor that managed to make Kim’s mansion look like a fancy version of your local multiplex but with substantially more flowers, balloons and themed refreshments.

Budgets were blown and audiences were reached. The only wrinkle was that once the social posts dropped the response from the public was vitriolic. Many thought the party was over the top, wasteful and that the Kardashians were undeserving of the early screening and special treatment.

Tyler Oakley, the popular YouTuber and podcaster, remarked on Twitter/X that the backlash was so big it felt like it was a “culture shift”. That post has been liked more than 119,000 times.

Others called out the wealth flaunting. The comedian known online as JulesandtheVibe, said the event made them “want to vomit” and their tweet has been liked over 160,000 times.

The Kardashian’s downfall has been incorrectly predicted more times than I care to remember but it’s a fairly consistent criticism that they are problematically ostentatious and vulgar and that their lives are increasingly unrelatable. The fact they haven’t taken heed is perhaps the more interesting part.

The family understand better than most that what really matters is getting attention. Maybe they’re past caring how that attention is acquired so long as people keep watching, and they keep getting paid.

The Wicked marketing team might be more reflective. They certainly need a debrief meeting and to hastily arrange some regular fan orientated events ASAP.

Is there anything worse than being called a “beta male”?

Not according to conservative activist Charlie Kirk after he was hit with the bro culture insult.

Originating from the manosphere, the loosely linked online world which promotes masculinity and resistance to feminism, a beta male is someone who lacks macho energy. Kirk was branded beta after he posted this picture to Twitter/X where he’s wearing earplugs at a college football match.

As the jibes piled in Kirk took to Instagram to post the same image but mysteriously the “beta” earplugs had been edited out of the photograph.

It’s mind-blowing how these conservative types can be such snowflakes…

So hot right now

Twitch streamer Kai Cenat and TikTok star Drew Afualo have been tapped by the NBA to be creators for the league.

Everyone is saying that Mikey Madison is incredible in the film Anora

A new messaging app called Daze is blowing up and has a waitlist that’s hundreds of thousands deep. The app is a fresh and visually-rich take on text messages and has caught attention because of impressive demo videos on TikTok, like this one, that’s been watched more than eight million times.

The messaging space hasn’t had a new player in a while and the dominant apps, Snapchat, WhatsApp and iMessage, will be keeping a close eye on whether the hype can translate into real competition.

Trends, trends and even more trends

The pop girlies are dominating Halloween… Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Charli xcx owned summer and are now set to take over your Halloween costume party.

TikToker’s Benny Drama, Jake Shane and Terry O’Connor absolutely nailed their take on 2024’s biggest stars in now viral posts.

And I loved this similar pop parade from actress Ava Noble and friends

Top marks to this Lana Del Rey couples costume too.

You may soon be asked to do an interpretive dance before someone does you a favour… This trend started when Kendal Daniel claimed she made her roommate’s boyfriend perform for her to earn the right to stay the night at their apartment. The end result was as unhinged as you might imagine. It’s since been followed by a dad in a delivery room (below) and a sister who wanted to borrow clothes.

And, TikTok’s newest dance star is a… jorts-clad “boomer” from Utah called Gary Brotherson. He blew up back in July after posting a high energy routine performed to a Hunger Games dance track that’s since been watched more than six million times. He’s had several TikTok’s reach millions of views and this week he was featured on the Marc Jacobs account, which frequently books viral stars to create content for their channel.

Trump’s secret weapon is his Gen Z son

If Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election then his youngest son Barron Trump may be joining him on a victory lap round Mar-a-Lago. And that’s because he’s been revealed as the brains behind a bro media blitz that’s helping to woo Gen Z and grow Trump’s lead over Kamala Harris with male voters.

Appearances on podcasts popular with young men like Impaulsive with Logan Paul, Bussin’ with the Boys and the Full Send Podcast, hosted by the Nelk Boys, have attracted millions of streams and been a cornerstone of Trump’s hyper-masculine campaign. And according to campaign staffers, Barron, an 18-year-old student at New York University, has been the key player pushing his father to appear on the male-centric podcasts and reach Gen Zers just like him.

“Barron is totally on top of these things,” according to Alex Bruesewitz, a senior communications advisor on the Trump campaign, in an interview with Semafor this week.

While Brian Hughes, a fellow campaign staffer, described Barron as a “young man who is very plugged in to modern culture” and said Barron was the one who “ultimately” convinced Trump on the strategy. Trump himself told Bussin’ with the Boys it was his youngest son who advised him to guest star on their show.

In an election with a dramatic gender divide targeting the right audience is crucial and it seems that Barron’s direction may have helped to triple Trump’s lead over Harris amongst men in the last week.