New York Times columnist Thomas Edsall conceded that conservatives are beginning to take control of American culture in a guest essay titled “The Right Is Winning the Battle for Hearts and Minds” on Tuesday.
“The full-scale assault by the conservative movement on liberal domination of the nation’s culture has begun to deliver key victories,” said Edsall, after decades of bitterness from conservatives “over the leftward tilt of academia, the literary world, the press, television and streaming video.”
Edsall credited Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, now called X, in 2022 as one of the major catalysts for conservatives gaining control of culture in recent years. X created a space where conservatives felt free to share their ideas without fearing that they may be banned or censored. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta recently followed suit and has begun rolling back content moderation on their sites, ending fact-checking and loosening restrictions on certain types of speech on Instagram and Facebook.
Podcasts were also cited by Edsall as one of the mediums that has helped sway culture to the right, with top podcasters such as Joe Rogan endorsing President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
Trump’s appearances on multiple right-leaning podcasts even sidelined traditional liberal media outlets during the campaign.
CEOs of the largest tech companies in the world have done an about-face on Trump in the wake of the 2024 election. From virulently opposing him in 2016 and 2020, to donating millions of dollars to his inaugural fund in 2024. Edsall credits regulatory pressure from Trump as one of the reasons for this switch.
“Trump’s threats to use the government’s regulatory apparatus to punish dissident corporations have, in turn, brought to heel major technology players that perform an important role in shaping what constitutes contemporary American culture. Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple’s Tim Cook each contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration celebration,” Edsall said.
Trump noted this switch-up in a Dec. 16 news conference at Mar-a-Lago, stating, “One of the big differences between the first term — the first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.”
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This pendulum swing of culture from left to right has also had an effect on cable news networks, according to Edsall.
“The Trump-Republican November sweep had an immediate effect on the partisan balance of power regarding cable news networks, which have long been crucial players in the dissemination of ideas, values and beliefs from the left as well as from the right,” said the columnist, also pointing out that “Despite the closeness of the November election, the two more liberal cable channels, MSNBC and CNN, experienced a severe decline in viewership after Nov. 5, while Fox News ratings rose.”
Anya Schiffrin, the director of the technology, media and communications program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, claimed in an email to Edsall that conservatives are also winning on the communications front.
Schiffrin stated that “part of why the Republicans are so successful is the message rather than the medium. Republicans keep their message extremely simple and focus on topics that have salience. Explaining the nuances of crime statistics and telling people not to worry about crime is not persuasive when people go daily to CVS and see all the toothpaste and aspirin are under lock and key or feel threatened on the street or subway.”
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According to Edsall, conservatives’ efforts to discredit liberal talking points and policy, through social media, podcasts and other mediums, have also had a major effect on the cultural shift currently underway.
The Times columnist credited Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the author of “America’s Cultural Revolution,” with “almost single-handedly” forcing liberals to retreat on a number of issues.
“Rufo can claim credit (or blame) for the corporate and academic retreat on critical race theory; diversity, equity and inclusion (better known as D.E.I.); and the environmental, social and governance (E.S.G.) movement in corporate investing,” claimed Edsall.
This pushback on progressive ideas also made its way into sports and music, as pointed out by Wall Street Journal reporters Aaron Zitner and Meridith McGraw in their Jan. 19 article, “How MAGA Is Taking Back the Culture.”
“Instead of taking a knee to call for social justice, N.F.L. players are doing the ‘Trump dance’ in the end zone at football games. Mainstream entertainers, among them the country singer Carrie Underwood and the rapper Snoop Dogg, agreed to perform at events celebrating Donald Trump’s inauguration, something music stars largely shunned eight years ago,” the WSJ reporters said.
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Edsall also placed blame on the elite universities across America for pushing culture to the right.
“Among the most damaging developments for the left include the failure of elite universities, bastions of liberalism, to deal with antisemitic protests during Israel’s attacks on Gaza; the current exodus of reporters, editors and subscribers at The Washington Post, a mainstay of liberal journalism; the discrediting of academia’s commitment to free speech as a result of the disclosure of their cancellation of controversial speakers; the relative absence of conservative professors in most fields; and the requirement that faculty members file annual mandatory diversity statements.”
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Edsall left his readers with an ominous warning for the future.
“Trump’s corporate allies are now lodged throughout the American business community. History has shown that turning points like the one we face can be very dangerous. Once leaders with autocratic aspirations, like Trump, as well as his enabler and sidekick Musk, have risen to power, an inflamed, ascendant right follows them, wherever they go.”
