How to build a media empire by pretending you're not what you are

Let's talk about the most beautiful con job in modern politics. Picture this: you're a partisan hack wanting to make millions pushing right-wing talking points, but you're just smart enough to realize that admitting you're a partisan hack might limit your audience to people who unironically use "Brandon" in casual conversation.

What's a grifter to do?

Simple. Rebrand as an "independent" truth-teller who happens to platform Nazis and cash checks from petroleum billionaires exclusively. It's like being a McDonald's employee insisting they're a freelance sandwich artist fighting Big Food.

Welcome to the rhetorical shell game that turned C-tier podcasters into millionaires and convinced millions of Americans that the solution to media bias is different media bias, but with a beanie and a persecution complex.

This is the playbook every successful political grifter follows, from Tim Pool's unwashed headgear to Dave Rubin's Koch-lubricated brain. Buckle up, because this shit is about to get educational.

Step 1: Choose Your Political Cosplay Identity

First rule of grift club: never admit you're in grift club. Instead, adopt a political identity that sounds evolved, nuanced, and slightly martyred—like you've transcended crude partisanship through pure intellectual superiority and personal suffering.

Think method acting, but you're only convincing yourself and millions of marks who think YouTube University grants legitimate degrees.

The All-Time Greatest Hits:

"Classical Liberal" - The Lamborghini of fake political identities. This beauty lets you advocate for conservative economic policies while claiming you're a liberal who happens to think poor people should die quietly…but with dignity. Dave Rubin has made this his entire personality, describing himself as a classical liberal so obsessively you'd think John Stuart Mill personally anointed him in a libertarian baptismal font filled with Koch money.

"Centrist" - Ideal for those wanting to seem above the partisan fray while exclusively booking guests who think January 6th was a peaceful field trip that got slightly rowdy. Tim Pool has built a media empire claiming he's perfectly balanced, like a political Thanos who only snaps his fingers in one ideological direction but swears it's totally random.

"Disaffected Progressive" - The ultimate sob story. "I used to be on the left, but they went crazy and forced me to take Russian money!" It's like claiming you quit Starbucks because they put too much foam in your latte while you're standing behind the Dunkin' counter wearing a name tag that says, "Hi, I'm a petroleum industry asset."

"Libertarian" - Translation: "I want to smoke weed AND exploit child labour without government interference." Popular with people who think age of consent laws are authoritarian overreach, but get concerned about traditional family values when there's money in it.

The beauty of these labels is that they're deliberately vague enough to shift positions based on whatever pays best while claiming ideological consistency. You're a political weather vane, but the wind is always blowing from the direction of whoever's cutting the biggest checks.

Step 2: Craft Your Villain Origin Story

Every successful grifter needs a compelling backstory explaining their "evolution" from reasonable human being to whatever the fuck they are now. You can't just say, "I realized there was more money in right-wing grievance culture than actual journalism."

No, you need a dramatic narrative about being pushed out of your ideological home by extremists who couldn't handle your brave truth-telling.

Classic Origin Stories:

"The Left Left Me" - The most overused excuse in the grift economy. "I didn't change, they changed!" Sure, Dave. The left didn't hold a gun to your head and force you to cash Koch Foundation checks while platforming race scientists. You were ideologically kidnapped. It's Stockholm syndrome, but for billionaire funding and bad faith arguments.

"I Was Cancelled" - Perfect for people who said something shitty and faced consequences in the free market of ideas. Instead of admitting you fucked up, reframe it as martyrdom for free speech. You're not an asshole who learned nothing from criticism—you're a truth warrior silenced for asking the tough questions. Like "Why can't I say racist things without backlash?" or "What if the Holocaust was about ethics in gaming journalism?"

"I Saw the Light During [INSERT CULTURAL MOMENT]" - Pick your radicalizing event: Gamergate, #MeToo, or when Starbucks said "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." The key is positioning yourself as the reasonable person who couldn't go along when "the left went too far." You're the protagonist in your own political disaster movie, except the disaster is discovering you can monetize suburban white grievance.

"Think of the Children" - Megyn Kelly's favorite. Claim your political transformation was about protecting your kids from dangerous woke ideology like... learning that slavery was bad and gay people exist. Nothing says principled stance like "I became a right-wing grifter because I'm a concerned parent." It's weaponized maternal instinct for people who think critical race theory is taught in kindergarten.

The secret sauce is making your journey sound inevitable and reluctant. You didn't choose to become a partisan hack—circumstances forced your hand. You're a political refugee fleeing the tyranny of people saying your tweets were stupid.

Step 3: Master the Sacred Art of "Just Asking Questions"

This is where the real artistry happens. You want to platform extremists and promote conspiracy theories without taking responsibility for the content. The solution? Never make direct claims—ask leading questions that guide your audience toward the insane conclusion you're being paid to promote.

It's like being a GPS for radicalizing suburban dads, but you technically never told anyone to drive to Fascist Town.

Master Class Techniques:

"I'm Not Saying X, But..." - Followed immediately by saying X with extra steps and plausible deniability. "I'm not saying the election was stolen, but isn't it weird that..." It's the rhetorical equivalent of "I'm not touching you" while holding your finger an inch from someone's face, except the face belongs to democracy and your finger is covered in Russian money.

"People Are Saying..." - Who are these people? What are their credentials? Do they exist? Doesn't matter! You're just reporting what unnamed sources allegedly claim. It's journalism for people who think citation requirements are fascist and peer review is a deep state psyop.

"What Do You Think About..." - The beautiful thing about questions is that they can't be fact-checked. You can platform the most unhinged conspiracy theorist and claim you were facilitating dialogue. "I just asked Nick Fuentes about demographic trends! I can't help if his thoughts involve white genocide theory and a PowerPoint presentation with detailed charts!"

"I'm Just Being Skeptical" - But only skeptical in one very specific direction, obviously. You're deeply skeptical of vaccine efficacy but totally credulous about ivermectin. You question mainstream media reporting, but never question the random Twitter account claiming Hunter Biden's laptop has evidence of interdimensional pizza trafficking by lizard people working for George Soros.

The goal is to guide your audience to conclusions without explicitly stating them. You're like a Border Collie, but instead of herding sheep, you're herding middle-aged men with podcasting equipment toward fascism.

Step 4: Perfect the Platform-and-Nod Technique

Here's where you build mainstream credibility while laundering extremist ideas into normal discourse. You invite the most controversial, fringe, and often dangerous voices onto your show, then conduct interviews with the rigour of a golden retriever watching someone explain cryptocurrency mining.

The Tim Pool Special:

Book Lauren Southern, who literally tried to stop refugee boats in the Mediterranean like a nautical ICE agent, then interview her as if she's promoting a new fitness program. "So, Lauren, tell us about your humanitarian work in the Mediterranean! And your thoughts on replacement theory—fascinating stuff! Have you considered writing a cookbook? Maybe something called 'Recipes for Racial Purity'?"

The Dave Rubin Classic:

Platform Stefan Molyneux to discuss racial IQ differences while nodding along like he's explaining how to change your oil filter. Occasionally interject with hard-hitting journalism like "That's so interesting!" and "Tell us more!" Never ask for evidence, methodology, peer review, or basic human decency. Your job is to be a human thumbs-up emoji with YouTube monetization.

The Joe Rogan Method:

"I'm just having conversations, man!" Host every conspiracy theorist, vaccine denier, and crypto-fascist who slides into your DMs while claiming you're just exploring ideas. When people point out you're mainstreaming dangerous misinformation, claim they're limiting free speech. It's not your fault if people believe the batshit insane theories your guests peddle—you're just asking questions while nodding encouragingly for three hours like a bobblehead filled with DMT and existential dread.

The beauty of this approach is you can inject extremist ideas into mainstream discourse while maintaining plausible deniability. You're not promoting these ideas—you're just giving them a platform to millions of people while providing zero critical analysis. Totally different, according to your lawyers and the voices in your head.

Step 5: Transform Your Persecution Complex Into High Art

When people call out your obvious bullshit—and they will, because it's obviously bullshit—you need to flip the script harder than a gymnast having a psychotic break. You're not a partisan hack spreading misinformation for money; you're a brave truth-teller being silenced by powerful forces who fear your independent voice.

This is where victimhood becomes a more profitable business model than selling supplements to people who think the government is putting fluoride in their water to make them gay.

The Greatest Hits Collection:

"They're Coming for Me Because I'm Over the Target" - Any criticism proves you're telling the truth. The more people say you're full of shit, the more legitimate you become. It's reverse credibility physics—being factually wrong makes you morally right. You're Neo, except the Matrix is reality, and you're fighting it with a Patreon subscription.

"Big Tech Censorship!" - When YouTube demonetizes your video for promoting horse dewormer as a miracle cure, it's not due to community standards. It's because you threatened the narrative! You're Galileo, except instead of proving the Earth revolves around the sun, you're defending suburban moms' sacred right to treat COVID with livestock medication from Tractor Supply.

"The Establishment Doesn't Want You to Hear This" - Position yourself as David fighting Goliath, while your sling is funded by petroleum billionaires and your stones are carved from Russian disinformation. Sure, you're employed by a different, more corrupt establishment, but you're still the scrappy underdog! The machine just happens to cut excellent paychecks and offer premium dental.

"They Can't Debate the Facts, So They Attack the Messenger" - When people point out your facts are wrong, claim they're avoiding honest debate. When they try to debate you with facts, claim they're using bad faith tactics like "evidence" and "citations." It's a Catch-22 that makes you intellectually bulletproof while being factually naked.

The persecution complex serves triple duty: rallies your base around shared victimhood, discredits criticism, and transforms you from "well-funded propagandist" into "martyred truth-teller."

You're not getting rich spreading bullshit—you're being crucified for speaking truth to power. Crucifixion pays really fucking well these days.

Step 6: Build Your Parallel Reality Empire

The final boss move is creating a complete alternative ecosystem where your audience never, ever encounters information that might challenge their carefully curated worldview. This isn't just about content—it's about lifestyle, identity, and consumer choices in a closed loop of monetized confirmation bias.

Think Scientology, but with better merch and tax-deductible donations.

Essential Ecosystem Components:

Alternative "News" Network - Direct your audience to other "independent" creators who reinforce the same narratives. Everyone quotes everyone else, creating a beautiful circle jerk of false consensus that would make Wikipedia editors weep with professional envy. It's peer review for people who think peer review is a deep state operation designed to suppress truth-telling patriots.

Lifestyle Brand Products - Sell them patriot phones that definitely aren't just regular phones with American flag cases, freedom coffee that tastes like regular coffee but costs twice as much, and liberty supplements that cure everything except critical thinking. Every purchase becomes a political act, reinforcing their identity as truth-seeking resistors who support the resistance by buying overpriced goods from people who hate them.

Apocalypse Economics - Gold dealers and crypto schemes thrive with audiences convinced civilization will collapse and only precious metals can save them. Why diversify your portfolio when you could buy Freedom Gold and patriot coins from your favourite truth-teller? It's financial planning for people who think lizard people run the Federal Reserve and the only safe investment is shiny rocks buried in your backyard.

Free Speech Safe Spaces - When mainstream platforms start fact-checking your content like an authoritarian truth police, migrate to "free speech" alternatives where anything goes and nothing matters. Build a walled garden where dissent is impossible because you've banned all the dissidents. It's censorship, but make it freedom!

The goal is to make it emotionally and financially painful for your audience to leave your universe. They don't just watch your content—they live in your reality, buy your products, eat your food, use your phones, and identify as soldiers in your movement against the forces of evil/reason. You've created a cult, but with better branding and tax advantages.

The Irony: Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

The delicious part of this operation: these "anti-establishment" rebels are backed by a more powerful establishment that makes the mainstream media look like a lemonade stand run by ethically confused kindergarteners.

Tim Pool rails against the corrupt system while cashing checks from Russian intelligence. Dave Rubin fights the machine while taking Koch money laundered through academia. Benny Johnson opposes the elites while working for an $81 million conservative influence operation that could buy most small countries.

They've convinced millions of Americans that the solution to being manipulated by mainstream media is being manipulated by petroleum billionaires, foreign intelligence agencies, and crypto-fascist think tanks instead. It's like McDonald's convincing you that Burger King is corporate poison designed to kill you, so you should eat at McDonald's to fight Big Fast Food. While Ronald McDonald injects your Quarter Pounder with diabetes, capitalism, and a mild case of Stockholm syndrome.

The revolution will not be televised. It will be monetized, sponsored by ExxonMobil, and sold back to you as authentic grassroots rebellion with a 30% markup and a monthly subscription fee.

The Psychology of Getting Played

Before the "so what" of this shitshow, let's talk about why it works so goddamn well. Understanding why millions fall for this grift isn't just academic curiosity—it's key to not becoming one of them.

These grifters aren't succeeding because they're brilliant manipulators. They're succeeding because they've figured out how to exploit basic human psychological needs that our society isn't meeting.

The Special Knowledge Drug - Humans crave insider information. It made sense when knowing which berries were poisonous could save your life. Now that impulse is exploited by people selling the idea that they have secret knowledge "they" don't want you to know. Tim Pool doesn't just give you news—he gives you the REAL news that the mainstream media hides. You're not just consuming content; you're part of an enlightened minority that sees through the lies.

It's like being part of a secret club, except the secret is that there is none, and the club is just a mailing list for people who buy gold from TV commercials.

Parasocial Relationships for the Emotionally Homeless - These influencers fill a genuine social void. They're your "friend" who validates your worldview every single day. Dave Rubin isn't just a talking head—he's the guy who "gets it" like you. When he talks about being pushed away from the left, you feel seen. When he platforms your ideological heroes, you feel heard.

It's friendship as a service, except your friend is a paid actor whose script is written by petroleum billionaires.

Simple Answers to Complex Problems - The world is confusing and scary right now. Economic inequality, climate change, technological disruption, and social fragmentation—these are complex problems with no easy solutions. But these grifters offer something more appealing than complexity: they offer someone to blame.

Your problems aren't caused by decades of policy decisions, economic forces, and social changes. They're caused by the "woke left," "globalist elites," or "mainstream media." You don't need to understand complicated economic systems—just buy Trump phones and vote for the right people.

Tribal Belonging in an Atomized World - Humans need to belong to something bigger. Traditional institutions—churches, unions, civic organizations—have been hollowed out. These influencers offer a replacement: a movement of free-thinking rebels fighting the establishment.

You're not just watching YouTube videos. You're part of the resistance. You're not just buying coffee. You're supporting the cause. You're not just sharing memes. You're spreading truth to power.

The psychological comfort of tribal belonging is so powerful that people will ignore contradictions to maintain it. Yes, your "anti-establishment" heroes are funded by billionaires. But pointing that out makes you sound like one of "them."

Spotting Real Independence vs. Performance Art

Now that we've established why this grift works, let's talk about how to avoid falling for it. Because actual independent media exists—it's just buried under an avalanche of performance art masquerading as journalism.

Here's your field guide to telling the difference:

Follow the Money, All of It - Real independent creators are transparent about their funding because they have nothing to hide. They'll tell you where their money comes from: subscriber support, small donations, maybe some openly disclosed sponsorships for products they use.

Fake independents either hide their funding sources or have funding that contradicts their stated mission. If someone rails against establishment corruption while taking checks from petroleum billionaires, that's not independence—it's just different corruption with better branding.

The Self-Criticism Test - Authentic independent voices regularly criticize their own "side" because they're not trying to maintain team loyalty—they're trying to find truth. If someone claims to be independent but never criticizes their favoured political team, they're not independent. They're just partisan hacks with better marketing.

Real independents sometimes piss off their audiences. Fake independents tell their audiences exactly what they want to hear.

The Evidence Standard - Genuine independent journalists change their positions with new evidence. They admit when they're wrong, correct errors, and show their work.

Grifters double down when contradicted. Evidence against them becomes proof of their power. They never admit error because it breaks the illusion of having special knowledge.

The Product Test - If someone's selling lifestyle products tied to your political identity, they're probably not a journalist. Real journalists might have a Patreon or sell books related to their expertise. They don't sell Freedom Coffee, patriot phones, and Apocalypse Gold while explaining why the establishment is corrupt.

If your "independent" news source is selling supplements, you're consuming a lifestyle brand designed to monetize your political anxiety, not journalism.

The Platform Pattern - Authentic independents have diverse guests and challenging conversations. They push back on claims, ask for evidence, and don't let their guests use their platform to spread obvious bullshit unchallenged.

Fake independent platform extremists, while claiming to support "open dialogue," then conduct interviews with all the critical rigour of a golden retriever watching someone explain quantum physics. They're not facilitating debate—they're laundering dangerous ideas into mainstream discourse.

The End Game: When Bullshit Becomes an Existential Threat

Now let's talk about why this matters beyond media consumption habits and individual gullibility. What we're dealing with isn't just garden-variety political bias—it's something more dangerous.

The ultimate goal of this operation isn't converting everyone to conservatism. Any idiot with a podcast can try that. The real genius is making everyone so confused, distrustful, and paranoid that they stop believing in the possibility of objective truth altogether.

When people can't tell who to trust, a democratic society starts breaking down. Democracy requires a shared baseline of facts. You can disagree about what to do about climate change, but if half the population thinks it's a hoax, you can't have a meaningful policy debate.

These grifters have weaponized healthy skepticism into paralyzed cynicism. They've made "independent" meaningless, "unbiased" impossible, and "objective truth" sound like something only sheep would believe.

Foreign Adversaries Are Laughing - The most successful influence operation in history isn't sophisticated deep fake technology or an elaborate spy network. It's convincing Americans to destroy their own information ecosystem. Russia didn't need to hack our elections—they just needed to pay podcasters to spread doubt.

When Tim Pool takes Russian money to call Ukraine "one of our greatest enemies," he's not just being a useful idiot. He's participating in an operation designed to undermine American foreign policy from within. When millions of Americans question basic facts about international relations because their favourite "independent" influencer told them to, that's a national security crisis disguised as a media literacy problem.

The Death of Expertise - Grifters have convinced millions that expertise is suspect. Scientists, journalists, academics, and policy experts are part of "the establishment" pushing "the narrative." The only people you can trust are the brave truth-tellers taking petroleum money and selling supplements.

This undermines informed policy debate and competent governance. When expertise is suspect, conspiracy theories become as valid as peer-reviewed research. When credentials become evidence of corruption, ignorance becomes a virtue.

Social Fracture as Business Model - The most insidious part is that division itself is profitable. The more polarized and angry people become, the more content they consume that validates their worldview. The more they consume, the more products they buy to signal their tribal identity. The more tribal they become, the more they distrust anyone outside their information ecosystem.

These grifters have turned social fracture into a sustainable business model. They're not just reflecting polarization—they're actively creating and profiting from it. Every suburban dad believing in deep state conspiracies is a customer for life.

The Generational Disaster - We're not just talking about people consuming bad media. We're talking about parents raising children in alternate realities. Kids growing up thinking that questioning authority means trusting whoever sells patriot phones. Teenagers learning "doing your own research" means finding YouTube videos that confirm their beliefs.

This isn't just a media or political problem—it's an epistemological crisis that will take generations to unfuck.

It's identity politics for people who think they're above it. Tribalism for people who think it's for primitives. Propaganda for people who think they're too smart to fall for it.

It's working so well that the manipulated will defend their manipulators against anyone pointing out the manipulation.

It's fucking beautiful, like watching someone accidentally set themselves on fire is beautiful. Except in this case, the fire spreads to everything around them, and some people lighting the matches are getting paid by countries wanting to watch America burn.

The Perfect Crime

The independent media grift is the perfect crime because it's nearly impossible to prosecute in the court of public opinion. When you expose these people as partisan hacks, they claim persecution. When you reveal their funding sources, they claim it's irrelevant to their message. When you fact-check their claims, they claim you're part of the conspiracy to silence truth-telling patriots.

They've created a rhetorical shell game so sophisticated that getting caught becomes part of the grift. Every piece of evidence against them becomes evidence of how powerful and threatening they are to the establishment. It's like being accused of robbing a bank and claiming the accusation proves banks are corrupt and trying to frame you for fighting their monopoly on money.

It's brilliant, profitable, and destroying any possibility of shared reality in American democracy.

But hey, at least the grifters are getting rich. And really, isn't that what independent journalism has always been about?

The emperor has no clothes, but he's wearing a dirty beanie and collecting foreign paychecks while his audience applauds his brave nudity as a powerful statement against Big Textile.

Pro tip: If someone claims to be independent while exclusively promoting one political perspective, taking money from billionaires and foreign governments, and selling patriot phones that definitely aren't just regular phones with flag stickers, they might not be as independent as they claim. Just a thought from someone who thinks patterns might mean something and words should occasionally correspond to reality.

 I don't sell memberships or anything, but if you want to buy me a beer, I won't refuse.