‘I asked young American men why they’re voting Trump – one reason was clear’

After raging about his faltering Milwaukee rally microphone, Donald Trump adopted a serious tone to discuss an interview he’d done earlier in the week.

“Joe Rogan was tough,” he told the crowd. “Tough but fair.”

Unlike Kamala Harris, who was sitting down for a conventional grilling by CBS’s flagship TV current affairs show, 60 Minutes, Trump’s statement media appearance was not televised.

He chose to sit down for an unedited three-hour chat with a comedian, posted on YouTube and uploaded as a podcast.

This is because Rogan, who is as well known for discussing UFOs and drugs as he is politics, has a show so popular that single episodes can rack up as many as 70 million views.

Not only is he one of the world’s most successful interviewers, but he also has an overwhelmingly young and male audience. Half of his viewers are 18-34, and 80% are men.

The Rogan interview has been characterised as part of Trump’s effort during this campaign to speak to this often disaffected demographic. He has appeared on a swathe of online shows, which outsiders often classify as part of a hypermasculine internet culture referred to as the ‘manosphere.’

Based on what the Express has seen in the US so far, there is no doubt he has a serious following within this group.

At the Trump rally in Wisconsin last week, many young men excitedly bounced toward the Fiserv Forum, visibly thrilled at the prospect of seeing the former president.

Bumping against each other’s shoulders as they rounded a corner in downtown Milwaukee, a group of lads were taken in by the patter of street vendor selling red T-shirts with ‘Trump vs. Tramp’ on the front and ‘It’s MAGA time, B***h’ on the back.

Giving off the type of giddy energy generally reserved for people buying their favourite football team’s shirt pregame, the group gets oversized matching tops immediately pulled over their hoodies.

When the Express approached them to ask what had brought them to rally, they formed a huddle and began contributing reasons.

“We can’t handle these gas prices,” one named Fulton Stroud began. “We can’t handle these grocery prices. I want to own a house one day.”

“You serious?” his friend Michael Dove cut in with a laugh, to which Stroud replied, “With Kamala, I can’t see that happening.”

When asked why they’d bought the t-shirts, there was an uneven chorus of “We love Trump,” “We don’t like the tramp,” and “Make America Great Again.”

“I’m trying to go to college next week,” said another friend, Christian Hammond, pushing his boyish sweep of brown hair to the side. “I’m not looking forward to that student debt with the interest. That’s really going to wipe me out, you know what I’m saying.”

All four young men were voting for the first time and were emphatic when asked whether they only had eyes for the Trump box on the ballot.

“Absolutely,” they say. “He’s better for our lifestyles”, “he has the best policies”.

“For me, they’ve both been in positions of leadership,” Fulton Stroud elaborated. “I think we’ve seen how the country has been under both, and for everyone I’ve talked to under Trump, people were doing way better and could afford more.”

“Even in the pandemic,” his friend Michael Dove added with a shake of the head.

The group is convinced that if Kamala Harris is elected, “bad things will happen”. When asked by the Express what specifically they are worried about, the response was conclusive: war.

“World War Three” and “getting drafted,” they call out before Stroud again adds more detail. “Trump kept us out of all wars; we didn’t start a war under Trump. Kamala is funding billions of dollars to Ukraine right now, which is not good for Americans.”

Before they left to see their hero, the quartet assured us that all the other young men they knew from Wisconsin felt the same way about backing Trump.

They bound away from the t-shirt seller with hearty laughs as if they are going to watch their favourite sports team play.

Tucked into the throng of people in red baseball caps queuing for a good seat near the front are friends Dominic Schnier and Austin Burback.

Although one is wearing a Make America Great Again baseball cap and the other has a TRUMP/VANCE flag as a cape, neither say they are a dyed-in-the-wool conservative voter.

“We wanted to come down to see what he had to say and whatnot,” Schnier said. “I’ve never been to something like this. We’re both voting for the first time, so it’s a good idea to come down and get some information.

“I have an open mind. If there was someone else who was running and I thought they’d do better for me in office, I’d vote for them. But right now, it looks like Trump is going to do better for me as a young adult.”

His friend Burback agreed: “I mean, I’m not a registered Republican. I’m independent so I’m not only going to vote for them. If a Democrat has better views, I’m going to vote for whatever’s best for America. But obviously, with the situation as it is now, Trump is the better choice.

“He’s a great, great speaker, a really charismatic guy and he’s a got a great sense of humour. It’s cool to see all the clips on TV, but it’ll be even cooler to see them in person.”

Inside the Fiserv Forum, the Express finds a quiet section quickly filled with young men in their early twenties. Some have come alone and sit scrolling through their phones as they await the politician to go on stage.

Others have come with friends. They excitedly pump their fists, wave signs, and cry “Trump, Trump, Trump” when the opportunity arises.

When Kamala Harris‘s face comes on screen, they cup their hands around their mouths to boo and rock with laughter when Trump talks about “knocking someone out.”

Although the slogans on their t-shirts might be crude, the atmosphere in the venue is hardly frat house vibe; there are plenty of young women and old folks, too.

It’s more like the lads are doing what they’d likely be up to on any other Friday night: having fun with their mates. The critical difference is that rather than being at a bar or house party, they’re at a political rally.

While they might be having fun, the reasons they chose to go there were genuine and serious. All of them had their lives turned upside down by the first global pandemic in 100 years, and the majority have warmer memories of Trump’s administration than the Biden/Harris leadership.

The young people the Express spoke to said this was driving their support of the former president. While appearing on Joe Rogan or other manosphere podcasts might keep Trump at the forefront of their minds, it is not convincing them to go to rallies or, more importantly, put an X by his name on November 6.