CPAC Leaders Claim It’s “Packed”—The Footage Says Otherwise | MAGA Mondays

Summary

Bulwark Takes – "CPAC Leaders Claim It’s 'Packed'—The Footage Says Otherwise | MAGA Mondays"

Podcast: Bulwark Takes
Date: March 30, 2026
Hosts: Andrew Egger (for Sam Stein), Will Sommer
Guests/Other Voices: Sam Stein (remote/chat contributor), soundbites from Patriot Prayer, Josh Hammer, Brandon Straka

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Overview

This episode of "MAGA Mondays" on Bulwark Takes dives into the state of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2026, examining the event's declining influence, infighting within the MAGA and hard-right universe, and the strange online personalities now shaping right-wing discourse. The hosts scrutinize the supposed "packed" nature of CPAC, using attendee perceptions and viral footage to question whether the movement retains energy or relevance. The latter half of the episode examines the saga of Clavicular, a controversial looksmaxing influencer, illustrating the blurred lines between online nihilism and real-world consequences in the broader right-wing subculture.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The "Washed" State of CPAC

• CPAC’s Diminished Relevance:
  • Once the keystone annual gathering for conservatives and the location of important straw polls, CPAC is now described as “washed” and “tired.”
  • The hosts note that rival events (notably Turning Point USA's AmericaFest) have overtaken CPAC both in energy and influence.
  • Multiple references are made to empty rooms and lackluster engagement, undermining CPAC leadership’s claim that the event was “packed.”
• Quote:
  • “CPAC is over, it’s washed, it’s unk. Whatever they say, the Gen Z people say ... this used to be the annual big gathering ... but now I think we’re seeing that CPAC is kind of tired.” – Sam Stein (06:00)
• Infighting and Discontent on the Floor:
  • Even long-time attendees and right-wing influencers are openly criticizing the event as fake, unrepresentative, and full of “lies” (06:10–06:44).

2. The Right-Wing Civil War and Shifting Alliances

• Erosion of Traditional Unity:
  • Tensions between different MAGA factions (pro/anti-Israel, national conservatives vs. podcaster/groyper types, traditionalists vs. isolationists) are escalating.
  • Josh Hammer represents a pro-Israel, national-conservative contingent trying to reclaim what MAGA stands for, but is called out as being out of touch with the youth-driven factions.
• Notable Quote:
  • “Each hard right denizens of podcast reject the fundamental essence, however, of MAGA. ... In fact, they are actually just anti-American.” – Josh Hammer clip (12:24)
• Dwindling Representative Power:
  • CPAC’s claim to representing the “grassroots” is challenged; the event is attended by a narrowing circle of die-hard fans and media personalities rather than a true cross-section of conservatives.
• Noteworthy example:
  • Even provocateurs like Nick Fuentes didn’t feel the need to show up, signaling waning relevance (11:00–11:20).

3. The Influence of Internet Personalities and the Collapse of Meaningful Discourse

• Influencer Drama Replaces Policy Conversation:
  • Discussion on “influencer culture” taking over major right-wing events—where personal brand-building and online beefs overshadow policy.
  • The “leader-worship” identified by Brandon Straka (WalkAway founder) highlights concerns about Trumpism devolving into a one-man personality cult.
• Notable Quote:
  • “If you call yourself a patriot, but you believe that it is your obligation to only praise and only worship your president, then you must not be a patriot of this country, because leader worship is how citizens behave in nations that aren’t free.” – Brandon Straka (17:30)
• Infighting as the Norm:
  • Straka also feuds with Scott Presler (another MAGA influencer); hosts joke about needing a whiteboard to keep track of MAGA feuds (15:33).

4. J.D. Vance, Looksmaxing, and Online-to-Real-World Feedback Loops

• Looksmaxing as Politically Relevant:
  • Viral critiques from far-right streamers and “aesthetic” influencers can shape real-world political behavior (e.g., speculation that J.D. Vance’s weight loss was prompted by a viral looksmaxing streamer's comments, 29:07–30:22).
• Notable Quote:
  • “Did that prompt J.D. Vance to go on a diet and maybe get into some GLP-1s? I don’t know.” – Sam Stein (30:18)
• The Algorithm Flattens the World:
  • Anyone going viral may find their influence reaching the White House, as hosts recount how a Trump policy was sourced from a random podcast caller (30:41–31:03).

5. The Saga of Clavicular: Nihilism, Drugs, and Party Culture on the Hard Right

• Who is Clavicular?
  • Described as a “quasi fascist adjacent” looksmaxing influencer, infamous for his willingness to take drugs and pursue extreme “self-improvement” for online validation.
  • Arrested after a series of bizarre events: a fight involving another influencer, and a viral video firing guns at an alligator in the Everglades (22:22–25:38).
• Psychology of Clavicular:
  • Seen as embodying a dark, nihilistic strand of young, male right-wing culture:
    “It’s very depressing hearing him talk ... you need to smoke meth. That’s a pretty dark image.” – Sam Stein (29:07)
• Why He Matters:
  • Despite seeming apolitical, Clavicular’s aesthetic worldview permeates up to genuine political figures, showing how nihilistic, influencer-driven online culture is now an integral part of conservative discourse.
• Notable Quote:
  • “It is really crazy that ... anybody who goes mega viral, the Vice President’s gonna see it.” – Andrew Egger (30:22)

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Memorable Moments and Quotes With Timestamps

• CPAC Declared “Over”:
  • “[After this weekend] Yes, CPAC is over, it’s washed, it’s unk. Whatever they say, the Gen Z people say ...” – Sam Stein (04:41–05:06)
• Patriot Prayer Clip, skepticism about attendance:
  • “They’re not Full. They’re bullshit. This is supposed to be an America first movement. It’s not ... I refuse to stand next to the bullshit. CCPAC is falling.” – Patriot Prayer influencer (06:10–06:44)
• Josh Hammer attacks right-wing podcasts as ‘anti-American’:
  • “Each hard right denizens of podcast reject the fundamental essence, however, of MAGA ... In fact, they are actually just anti-American. Shots fired.” – Josh Hammer (12:24)
• Brandon Straka denounces “leader worship:”
  • “If you call yourself a patriot, but you believe that it is your obligation to only praise and only worship your president, then you must not be a patriot of this country, because leader worship is how citizens behave in nations that aren’t free.” – Brandon Straka (17:30)
• On JD Vance’s transformation:
  • “People have noticed over the past few weeks that J.D. Vance has lost a lot of weight. ... So did that prompt J.D. Vance to go on a diet and maybe get into some GLP-1s? I don't know.” – Sam Stein (29:07–30:18)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• CPAC — The Declining Event: 02:30–06:44
• Patriot Prayer’s Critique & Empty Rooms: 06:10–06:44
• CPAC, Foreign Flags, & the Shah of Iran: 07:12–08:19
• Media using CPAC as a Barometer: 08:20–10:20
• Right-Wing Infighting (Josh Hammer, roiling podcast wars): 11:38–13:34
• MAGA Personality Cult, Civil War: 15:33–19:54
• Influencer Economy and Policy: 20:12–21:00
• Clavicular’s Saga: 22:22–29:07
• Looksmaxing and Impact on Politicians: 29:07–31:03

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Tone and Style

The hosts’ tone is sardonic and sharp, peppered with inside jokes, asides about MAGA infighting, and cultural commentary on the absurd personalities dominating the far-right ecosystem. They navigate between critical analysis of right-wing decline and bemused fascination with the subcultural currents (looksmaxing, influencer beef, nihilism) that now influence actual political outcomes.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode paints a picture of a conservative movement in disarray, where institutions like CPAC are in free fall, replaced by a chaotic influencer economy rife with personal drama, empty symbolism, and nihilism. The infighting is not simply backstage drama; these dynamics now color how conservative leaders act, look, and try to gain favor, reflecting how online culture has collapsed the distance between the fringe and the center of right-wing politics.

Transcript

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[Andrew Egger]

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[Alex Canceroitz]

Hi, this is Alex Canceroitz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to cnbc. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Andrew Egger]

I think we're live. Yeah.

[Will Sommer]

All right, everybody. Welcome. Welcome to Monday.

[Andrew Egger]

I am. I'm Andrew Egger. I'm filling in for Sam Stein, who usually sits in the chair right here to talk to Will Sommer, our MAGA media reporter about.

[Will Sommer]

Usually I think the way this show

[Andrew Egger]

is built is the stuff that went on online over the weekend.

[Will Sommer]

It's a little different this time around.

[Andrew Egger]

We're having kind of a meet Space MAGA Mondays because a lot of the MAGA people were showing up in person. But I think, I think I actually don't know why Sam is gone. I assume maybe like Yukon's win.

[Sam Stein]

Well, I was checking. Apparently he said he has to spend more time looks maxing related to. He read one of our topics this week and he said, oh my gosh, do you think that hitting your face in the bone, hitting yourself in the face with a hammer works? And I said, sam, don't believe it. But anyways, that's why he dropped off.

[Andrew Egger]

Yes. So we'll be really excited to have Sam back here next week. Jawline much improved from before.

[Will Sommer]

I'm also excited to be here just

[Andrew Egger]

at a point of personal privilege. Everybody is always getting Will and me mixed up on our videos. They're always calling me Will and him Andrew. And it's a big problem. So if you're watching out there right now. Maybe you can use this opportunity to memorize various differentiations in our facial features. We are both sort of pale and gingery, but, but, but we, we actually, you know, we're not, we're not completely carbon copies of one another. And you can, you can carry that forward with you into, into all forthcoming bulwark content.

[Will Sommer]

But, but the first thing we're here

[Andrew Egger]

to talk about, to actually get into the thing, I said meet Space MAGA Mondays.

[Will Sommer]

And the reason for that is because the Conservative Political Action Conference has, has been meeting. Are they, are they finished now, Will?

[Sam Stein]

Yep, they're done. I believe they started on Thursday and finished on Saturday.

[Andrew Egger]

Okay, so we just wrapped up the

[Will Sommer]

latest, the latest cpac.

[Andrew Egger]

CPAC is a bizarre beast. I used to cover it myself year after year once upon a time.

[Will Sommer]

Sort of like a meeting of the minds.

[Andrew Egger]

Really sort of build that way as like a let's all get together and talk about policy thing. More and more over the years sort of turned into let's just meet all of our favorite stars from right wing media and just try to have a little confab. And then not just our favorite stars from right wing media, but also our favorite right wing lunatics. And then it kind of turned into a giant Trump fest and it's been sort of strange. I haven't been to CPAC in a little while. Will.

[Will Sommer]

Can you just kind of give me

[Andrew Egger]

like a flavor of what, what, what

[Will Sommer]

the deal is with CPAC these days?

[Andrew Egger]

What, what's kind of the space that it occupies in, in the, the right wing media world right now?

[Sam Stein]

Well, so this is the question. I hope we can get to the, to the bottom of today. You know, on one hand, I think after Charlie Kirk's assassination, there was so much talk about Turning Point usa and people were saying America Fest, which is sort of like their big conference, has eclipsed CPAC over the past few years. And I think people were more or less right about that. But I was like, well, is that really true? Is CPAC really, you know, in the, in the trash? And the answer, I think after this weekend is yes, CPAC is over, it's washed, it's unk. Whatever they say, the Gen Z people say, you know, it is this typically cpac, which of course stands for the Conservative Political Action Conference. I mean, this used to be the annual big gathering, the straw poll mattered a lot about, like who would be the next presidential contender from the right. But now I think we're seeing that, that CPAC is kind of tired look, we still got a lot of crazy lunatics. I mean, we got day one. We got a confrontation between Elijah Schaefer, who's a guy I've written a lot about, kind of the trad guy on the skin kids after his affair was revealed, and a guy named Current Revolt, who's kind of like a right winger who does a great job terrorizing these guys with, with reporting on them. And at one point he asked one of Elijah's minions, he said, are you twink number one or twink number two? Because Elijah hangs out with all these young men. And the guy said, I'm twink number one, pal. You know, So, I mean, there was a lot of weirdness that we'll get into. But I think overall the broader thing is like, I think both CPAC and I think the MAGA movement more broadly, I think we're seeing this kind of lack of energy. This division is really getting to people.

[Andrew Egger]

Yeah, yeah.

[Will Sommer]

I mean, it's kind of funny because

[Andrew Egger]

like, we sort of in the, in the outside pundit space have sort of been developing this feeling about CPAC for a number of years. Like, you show up and you, you take in all the programming and you're

[Will Sommer]

like, what did we really learn?

[Andrew Egger]

And like, was there any point to it? And you'll see think pieces like, do

[Will Sommer]

we all spend too much time paying attention to cpac?

[Andrew Egger]

That kind of thing.

[Will Sommer]

But this was like the first time

[Andrew Egger]

that at least I personally witnessed CPAC

[Will Sommer]

attendees making some of these, some of

[Andrew Egger]

these similar sort of arguments. I don't know, maybe we can play that, that, that Patriots Prey clip here.

[Sam Stein]

Yes, this guy's like a sort of random, you know, right wing influencer with like 30,000 followers. So sort of like a C tier type guy. But even he, this is the guy who in the past would just be like, I'm sure, like, oh, Matt Schlapp, like, you're the king, man. Like, you know, get me on the good podcast. That's mash. Slap the head of cpac. But now he's just trashing the place. And I think he's sensing that the direction to be going in is kind of distancing yourself from the traditional MAGA movement. So let's play that clip.

[Patriot Prayer Member]

This is how much I'm standing on what I believe I left out of the event. I was backstage, I was backstage with Ted Cruz, I was backstage with everybody, and I confronted them on what they're doing here and the lies that they're telling you guys about the rooms being full. They're not Full. They're bullshit. This is supposed to be an America first movement. It' not. There are more other countries flags here than American flags here. And I refuse to stand next to the bullshit. CCPAC is falling.

[Sam Stein]

CPAC.

[Patriot Prayer Member]

I won't, I won't tie my brand next to it. This is trash.

[Sam Stein]

All right, so for what it's worth, the Patriot prayer brand, the Prayerful Patriot, that brand is no longer associated with cpac. What did you make of that, Andrew?

[Will Sommer]

Can I, can I just say I

[Andrew Egger]

think there's a zero percent chance that that's true, that other countries flags are dwarfing America. I mean like maybe, maybe, who knows, maybe you've seen stuff on this cpac,

[Will Sommer]

very star spangled sort of event as

[Andrew Egger]

far as every, I mean like ostentatiously, ludicrously so anytime I've ever been there in the past.

[Will Sommer]

But maybe it's changed. Has it changed?

[Sam Stein]

Well, well, let's, let's build on that. So when someone says there's too many foreign flags here, my mind instantly goes to Israel. Right. And the idea that, you know, Israel is dominating Donald Trump, this kind of growing wave of anti Israel and often anti Semitic criticism in the party. But I think there's actually something else at play here which is that CPAC this year was a huge stage for Reza Pahlavi, the sort of the man who would be Shah of Iran. And so I think when he's saying, you know, that, that that is who cpac, there's too many foreign flags. I think it's often about these kind of Iranian diaspora people who are the only ones who are really showing any kind of energy at cpac. This is of course the Shah's son, I guess, who, who spoke and is sort of positioning himself as like the American puppet who could be installed. And you know that there's a lot of pictures of like semi empty rooms at cpac, but the Shah, or the would be shah had a really packed room and then of course as soon as he's gone, everyone's gone. And I think, like I said, I think these are Iranians living in the United States. I don't think that there's this natural grassroots, typical Trump conservative outpouring for Reza Pahlavi.

[Andrew Egger]

Yeah, yeah.

[Will Sommer]

I mean, and when you talk about

[Andrew Egger]

like quote unquote, typical Trump conservative stuff

[Will Sommer]

anywhere at cpac, I mean that's always been one of the weird things about

[Andrew Egger]

it is like the same that it draws from. Even though like media people like us

[Will Sommer]

have tried to sort of use it as sort of a barometer of grassroots opinion, like the straw poll stuff like

[Andrew Egger]

that you were talking about before.

[Will Sommer]

Just because it's easy, you know, it's

[Andrew Egger]

like you could go out into the world and spend a lot of time like trying to do, you know, really careful polling and you know, man on

[Will Sommer]

the street interviews for anecdotes like out there in the, in flyover country in the sticks or, you know, if you're like a D.C. reporter, you could just wait for, for CPAC and wait for,

[Andrew Egger]

you know, a bunch of, you know, red hat wearing people who, you know, watch a lot of Fox News to

[Will Sommer]

sort of travel in. And then you could just mill around

[Andrew Egger]

in the, at the Gaylord Hotel in Oxen Hill, Maryland and, and you know, talk to some of them and see what they clap at and see what they don't clap at and see how they vote in the straw poll.

[Will Sommer]

And it was like prepackaged and it was easy.

[Andrew Egger]

And that was sort of the, that

[Will Sommer]

was sort of part of the mystique

[Andrew Egger]

that like Matt Schlapp was selling about the event is like, it's like it's actually good for the media to come and like, find out what real America is all about.

[Will Sommer]

But even before it was sort of, it was the whatever insane sort of

[Andrew Egger]

micro subslice of quote unquote, real America

[Will Sommer]

was willing to travel across the country,

[Andrew Egger]

like to, to and pay a bunch of money to like meet Ben Shapiro. You know, like that, that's like the, the kind of people that it was, that it was pulling from. And even though they were like, you know, from the Texas Panhandle or whatever, that didn't necessarily make them any more representative of. Than. Than they had been before. And I feel like now, you know, as, as CPAC has sort of receded

[Will Sommer]

further into the, like, even, even more

[Andrew Egger]

so than ever now. It's just sort of like longtime fans of CPAC itself are. What are the people who come to

[Will Sommer]

CPAC and, and I don't know, like, am I, am I crazy about. Like, it just doesn't seem like it was ever really representative, but like, especially

[Andrew Egger]

in this moment now.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, no, I think you're right on. And I, I think it's particularly unrepresentative at this moment. You know, number one, like, we haven't even mentioned Matt Schlapp had these kind of sexual assault. Alle accusations that he was attacking men and sort of pouncing on them, which I think has kind of hurt the broader Schlap family brand. You know, it's right. I feel like his, his power is diminished in Washington and kind of in the broader conservative movement. But you know, in terms of CPAC as a representation, as you said, I mean, this was like the party hardcore, but also people who were like, willing to like fly to, you know, Prince George's county, go to national harbor and you know, as you said, to meet like a cool blogger that they like. On the other hand, I think it's even less representative now when the GOP is really splitting along these lines, these Nick Fuentes lines, these. You know, I don't even think Gruiper's really bothered managing to trying to sneak in or anything this year. I mean, I think that's really the ultimate sign that it doesn't matter when Nick Fuentes isn't getting frog marched out. You know, the. To that end, Josh Hammer, who's very much on kind of like the pro Israel side, he raised the, what we know as kind of the roiling right wing podcast civil war. If we could play that clip, Get that in.

[Will Sommer]

I don't know for a fact.

[Andrew Egger]

I wonder whether, whether Matt, we tried

[Will Sommer]

that, we tried to get the Josh

[Andrew Egger]

Hammer clip thrown in at the very last second here.

[Will Sommer]

Matt, feel free to, you know, just

[Andrew Egger]

drop that anyway me talking about it, but I will just talk about it until we get it up. And basically what you have is Josh Hammer. He is this, he's a, he's a sort of national conservative guy, you know, very sort of critic of, of sort of like fusionism and the pre existing sort of Bush conservative consensus or whatever. But he's also, he's Jewish, he's very pro Israel.

[Will Sommer]

And he kind of kind of part

[Andrew Egger]

of his, his whole kind of the niche he's found himself in, in the sort of modern new right space is saying,

[Will Sommer]

sure, maybe we should be a little less like liberal.

[Andrew Egger]

Maybe we should be a little less,

[Sam Stein]

you know, Andrew, let me cut that off. I think we have that clip. Let's run that clip.

[Andrew Egger]

Oh, cool. Let's do it.

[Will Sommer]

Each hard right denizens of podcast reject the fundamental essence, however, of maga. Much like the neo Marxist left, the right doesn't think America was ever great. And they certainly don't think that America is capable of being made great once again. They are therefore explicitly anti maga. In fact, they are actually just anti American. Shots fired.

[Sam Stein]

Trying to get edgy there. You know, he's dropping the R word like, like this is. This guy's kind of finding himself on the wrong side of the divide, right? Because he's like pro Israel. He's, you know, I think correctly opposed to the rise of anti Semitism in the party. But he's like. But he knows that the dynamism, unfortunately, is with the gripers, is with Megyn Kelly, who's aligned herself there with Candace Owens. So he's like, how do I win Gen Z back? I guess I could use some slurs. I suppose so. And, you know, he's dropping that. And you can tell the audience, they're either not with it or they're just like, what is this guy talking about? Like, podcast to stand. So I think this is, you know, we saw some of this Civil War stuff kind of creeping out at CPAC as well. Yeah.

[Will Sommer]

I mean, this particular one is so

[Andrew Egger]

fascinating to me because the lines are so messy. Right. And I think, like, guys like Josh Hammer or guys like, you know, the radio host Mark Levin, who are a lot more hawkish, who are a lot more sort of classically anti Iran and think, you know, we need to go over there and just, you know, flex and take out the ayatollahs and smash their nuclear program, all that sort of stuff.

[Will Sommer]

I mean, you're right that the dynamism

[Andrew Egger]

in the party is 100% the opposite direction. You know, they probably still have like a majority. You know, the median Republican MAGA guy is with them on that stuff. But all the movement, all the growth is on the other side of the coin.

[Will Sommer]

But Donald Trump has sort of shown himself personally recently to be extraordinarily anti Iran.

[Andrew Egger]

Right.

[Will Sommer]

Like, he is right there with them. He's deploying their strategies. And so it's given them this weird opportunity to really sort of rally around the flag of Trump and say, you know, it's the Megyn Kelly's of the world and it's the Tucker Carlson's of

[Andrew Egger]

the world who are the weirdos and the ones who are not maga, and

[Will Sommer]

they're the ones who you should think of as RINOs and kick to the curb and fire out of the coalition. And it's weird because sometimes it seems like Trump is with them and he's obviously with them on the substance here.

[Andrew Egger]

Like a couple weeks ago, Megyn Kelly and Mark Levin were going at it in insanely personal terms at one another. Maybe you guys talked about it on another Mega Mondays before, where Megan Kelly penis thing.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah. And they were going at it again this weekend. I mean, they're, you know, let's keep things above the belt. That's what I would say to them. I mean, they're really going for it.

[Will Sommer]

But Donald Trump, you know, in the midst of that fight, he fires off a truth social post that's just like back in Mark Levin to the hilt. He's the great one, you know, he's one of the best we've got. And then at the same time you have this Josh Hammer versus you know, podcast to stand fight and you have Trump staffers, young like Gen Z Trump staffers like Alec Brucewitz who are saying, who does Josh Hammer think he is?

[Andrew Egger]

You know, to declare himself the arbiter

[Will Sommer]

of who's MAGA and who's not. Like, is there any through line to that? How do you tease out this, this weird like muddy intra right fight?

[Sam Stein]

You know, Sam and I were talking about maybe I should do a thing with like a whiteboard. And we put the faces on and we kind of show who's feuding with who because it's interesting. I mean like, let's take this fight over. Like is CPAC dead right? On one hand you have a lot of the gripers, you have these, these far right figures who are very opposed to the kind of establishment brand represented by Match Lap and CPAC were saying CPAC is over. On the other hand you have someone like Laura Loomer who sees JD Vance win the straw poll. Now, Laura Loomer is opposed to JD Vance essentially because he's seen as a more isolationist, more Israel skeptical candidate. She says only 10 people went to CPAC this year. So this is totally irrelevant. Now Mercedes Schlap. This is like a tongue twister, all these schlapps. She is Matt Schlapp's wife and sort of a Republican operator in her own right.

[Andrew Egger]

And she posts a picture of long suffering wife Mercedes.

[Sam Stein]

Yes, long suffering is right. And what is basically still to me like a third empty room. And she's like, oh yeah, no one went to cpac. I mean you can tell. I mean that's not that big of a room. I've seen, you know, certainly bigger Cirque du Soleil performances and things like, I mean this is not like to me the face of a party that is going to like go beast mode on the midterms. So there's kind of this few great. We can take that down, thanks. There is this, this sense of kind of just like bad feelings all around, I would say. And actually if we could, the other thing to jump off of here is so Josh Hammer is saying essentially get in line with Trump. We love the war, you know, quiet podcast to stand. On the other hand, Brandon Straka. Now this guy, this is the guy who founded the Walk Away movement. Now, what, did he walk away from the Democratic Party because he was a gay hairdresser? This was maybe a decade ago at this point. This is a guy who's very much a creature of the modern Trumpist Republican Party. He gets up there and he says, Trumpism has become a personality culture. We got to stop attacking people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who's my buddy. So I don't know if we can play that clip.

[Will Sommer]

Let me tell you something. If you call yourself a patriot, but you believe that it is your obligation to only praise and only worship your president, then you must not be a patriot of this country, because leader worship is how citizens behave in nations that aren't free.

[Sam Stein]

So that's pretty interesting there. I mean, and he's getting beyond the, like, I'm not happy with Israel stuff that we're seeing. He's getting into, like, this is Trumpism is a personality cult. We need to get away from it. Which is kind of crazy to be saying at CPAC for a guy who, by the way, was charged after January 6 for his role in the riot. I mean, this is. This is not a, like, Trump milquetoast guy.

[Andrew Egger]

I love the idea that that specifically that pitch that Trump is Trumpism is now becoming a personality cult.

[Will Sommer]

Like, look, we had a long run.

[Andrew Egger]

We got a lot of good stuff done with Maga, but now 10 years in, there are worrying sign that actually

[Will Sommer]

this is all just sort of like,

[Andrew Egger]

scaffolding that we're all trying to put up around one guy. And maybe there's not a lot of,

[Will Sommer]

like, actual intellectual underpinning here at all.

[Andrew Egger]

And maybe it is really just this,

[Will Sommer]

just this one big president and the things he wants to see happen, it's a little easier, I guess, to feel

[Andrew Egger]

that once Donald Trump swerves away from a specific promise that you really liked and throws in with. With the. With the war people instead of the anti war people.

[Will Sommer]

I mean, is this. Do you see this sort of thing as, like, genuine? Do you see this sort of thing

[Andrew Egger]

as like, an actual, like, revelation to guys like this?

[Will Sommer]

Or is it purely just sort of

[Andrew Egger]

posturing for, like, the coalitional fights that are coming, you know, next?

[Sam Stein]

I mean, I think it's interesting. I mean, I think the Brandon Strock of it all is intriguing because this is a guy who is relatively unique. He likes infighting a lot. He's feuding with Scott Pressler, people may remember as the another gay man with very luxurious locks who does voter registration. And Brandon Straka, I think, basically thinks that Scott Pressler ate his nachos and kind of stole his whole shtick. But it's also kind of a Megyn Kelly situation where I think we're seeing people who very much kind of go which way the wind blows and thrive by being, like, about a half step ahead of the mood of the party. And he's saying, oh, boy, I better not get up there and say it's time to seize Kharg island up with the Shah. He's saying, oh, I gotta start getting a little Trump critical. Which, if I'm the Trump administration, I'm like, what the heck? The walkaway guy is walking away from us. That's not a good sign.

[Andrew Egger]

Yeah, yeah, man.

[Will Sommer]

It's every time.

[Andrew Egger]

Every time we talk about this stuff, first of all, I'm, like, picturing people out in the audience sort of, like, trying to, like, furiously get down everybody's name and, like, I guess here's another guy I need to pay attention to, another MAGA character I need to have in my. In my Rolodex or my constellation of all these chuds. And then.

[Will Sommer]

And then, on the other hand, it

[Andrew Egger]

just keeps coming back to me over and over again how crazy it is that we basically do have, like, a party that is 100% just sort of. All the conversation is filtered through these influencers who. Who, like, I mean, just.

[Will Sommer]

Just every bit about it is, like, getting market share and, like, elbowing each

[Andrew Egger]

other out of the way. And, you know, all these policy fights

[Will Sommer]

are sort of downstream from that, and a lot of it has to do with loyalty to Trump, but now less so than before. And there's. There's different strategies in terms of maybe now you can inch a little further away and be like, I'm not like,

[Andrew Egger]

one of those guys who just dines out on my loyalty to Trump.

[Will Sommer]

I'm a real guy. I'm a free thinker. I mean, maybe. Maybe I overthink it because I'm online

[Andrew Egger]

a lot like you are, but it really does seem like this is sort of the beating heart of the way that these fights play out in Republican politics right now.

[Sam Stein]

No, I mean, I think it is. And look, I mean, the audience, you don't have to worry about Brandon Straka. Trust me. That's what we're here for. We'll let you know. We'll let you know when he resurfaces. Right.

[Will Sommer]

Tyler reddick here from 2311 Racing Victory Lane.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, it's even better.

[Will Sommer]

With Chumba by my side. Race to chumpacasino.com.

[Sam Stein]

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[Andrew Egger]

This is Mike Borlo of Lexicon Valley

[Bob Garfield]

and I'm Bob Garfield. Are you one of those people who sometimes uses words?

[Andrew Egger]

Do you communicate or acquire information with, you know, language?

[Bob Garfield]

Hey, us too. So join us on Lexicon Valley to chew over the history, culture and many mysteries of English. Plus some rice cracks.

[Andrew Egger]

Find us on one of those apps where people listen to podcasts.

[Sam Stein]

Okay, I think should we move on to what people really came here for? That's.

[Andrew Egger]

Yes, the podcast.

[Sam Stein]

The mini misdeeds of Clavicular.

[Andrew Egger]

Yes, yes.

[Will Sommer]

Long time, Long time.

[Andrew Egger]

Maga Mondays heads the man who needs no introduction for these guys. Clavicular. The looks magic influencer.

[Will Sommer]

Yeah, yeah, we're all. We've been. We've been quietly taking, taking tips from him.

[Andrew Egger]

You're like Sam. Like we said at the top, Sam's going to come back next week, jawline enhanced, and we'll, we'll be right behind him. What, what, what's our buddy Clavicular been up to, Will?

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, so clavicular, as you said. I mean, this is a guy who is this sort of quasi fascist adjacent figure who's famous for looks maxing. He'll go to any links to look handsome. And so he'll smoke meth to. To pick up girls at the club. He'll take all these weird drugs. And so Clav, you know, he had obviously a big spate of. Of news. I think about a month ago we wrote about him. The New York Times wrote about him, whatever. But now he's kind of been doing his thing. He's doing, I think, 30 days of clavicular madness to try to kind of stay in the spotlight. But there was maybe a bit too much clavicular madness. So on Thursday night, Clavicular was arrested. This was right after he had done. He had shot up a dead crocodile or alligator, I suppose. Yep. There's the, there's the frog. Yeah, let's. Let's take that down. Poor gator. But that's kind of what it looked like. I mean, I do think a lot of clavicular behavior can be explained by the fact that he. I mean, he's very open about this. He's on enormous amounts of drugs at all times, a lot of which reduce your inhibitions. And so I think this is very good for picking up girls in the club. But I think it's also bad if you don't want to mag dump into a gator online, on camera. So that's where we're at. So he was arrested and people thought it was about the gator, but it was in fact about something else.

[Andrew Egger]

Say more.

[Sam Stein]

Sure. So, so about a month ago, Clavicular. This was when I was writing about him. And this, it was sort of like there was this incident involving an influencer named Jenny Popatch. And look, I mean, this, you know, you talk about people we don't need to worry about, right? This is someone who exists in a totally different kind of like, you know, character realm. But basically what appeared to happen was Clavicular, he had this girlfriend and he felt, not Jenny, there's another woman. He was on camera saying to his girlfriend, like, because he's always live streaming, right? And he's saying, like, the audience thinks you're boring. You know, you're never creating drama on the stream. And by the way, Clavicular is also out, like always hooking up with girls. Right? And so what's up with his. His girlfriend? Why? I guess she doesn't care. So then he gets this Jenny Popac woman, Not Jenny Popat. Right, Jenny Popach. And he brings her back to his house, seemingly to be like, maybe you want to hook up with Clavicular or like party at house. And then the girlfriend emerges and so it seems like he kind of set her up for this drama. And then the girlfriend's like, get away from my looks, maxer. And then they start just brawling, right? And keep in mind, like, Clavicular has all these security, all these middle aged men who are like, oh, brother, they're not getting involved. So basically she filed a police report. Jenny did, I think with the allegation that like, Clavicular kind of lured me into this situation to get beat up. And that is what he got arrested over. However, he's also being invested for the alligator thing. Can we throw that tweet up? Yeah. So here it says, the Florida wildlife Commission is aware of a video depicting individuals in the Everglades on an airboat who were discharging firearms at an alligator. Okay, we can. So they say they're looking into it, so we can take that down. But basically, you know, you never want, you know, some like, wildlife commission looking into you, you know, because that, that stuff, I mean, that's like Carl Hyacinth novel situations and. Or orchid thief. Right? So Clavicular, watch out.

[Will Sommer]

I do like the idea that, I don't know, it just seems like a

[Andrew Egger]

strange collision of worlds to me to have your influencers who are all so influential or so. So their whole world is this aesthetics mash aesthetics maxing that they are. They're getting themselves to the hottest possible frame and they're carving everything else away

[Will Sommer]

so that they can go into the

[Andrew Egger]

Everglades and shoot at wildl.

[Will Sommer]

Which seems to me like you didn't

[Andrew Egger]

have to do all that.

[Will Sommer]

You can go into the Everglades and

[Andrew Egger]

shoot at wildlife and not stream yourself. You can go out in nature and sort of participate in America's great poor gun safety tradition and get hopped up on drugs.

[Will Sommer]

You can do all that without even the looks maxing part.

[Andrew Egger]

That's a whole separate American tradition that Clavicular appears now to be dabbling in.

[Sam Stein]

Well, the gun has always been interesting. We're obviously familiar with the term Chekhov's gun. We've been dealing with Clavicular's gun for a while, where the gun is kind of floating out there in an ominous way. Like, he, at one point, you know, he would be like, kind of checking it when hanging out on the party bus, or he'd be aiming it at someone he felt was harassing him. And so now this may be kind of the ultimate clavicular gun, you know, incident that brings him down in the end. You know, you kind of pointed this. There's also this thing about Clavicular where people, everyone he hangs out with, he seems to hate. Like, and he sort of seems like. It's sort of like if they took you or I, and we're like, all right, hang out on this Miami party, us. I'd be like, oh, brother. You know, there was this clip of him talking to a girl from Syria and he said, oh, like, what do you think of the Syrian civil war? And she was like, what? Like, I don't know about it. And it was almost like he was like, well, what do you think of the Al Nusra front? Like, he was. He was ready to jump in on it. So I think he remains trapped in a prison of his own devising. And he's a. Again, why does he matter? Well, he's kind of this face of this kind of nihilistic right wing world. And what do you make of that?

[Will Sommer]

Well, that is such a good question

[Andrew Egger]

because I genuinely don't know.

[Will Sommer]

Like, I understand that this guy has

[Andrew Egger]

this sort of like political valence to him where he's, you know, he's hanging out with all these. Or he was at least for a brief moment, hanging out with all these like, like political streamers, you know, guys like Nick Fuentes or guys like Andrew Tate, you know, who make this sort of horrible revanchist right wing politics. Sort of like a lifestyle brand where it's, where it's basically like, you know, it's all, it's all sort of like of a piece going to be horrible to women and you're going to vote fascist and that's how you're going to sort of achieve self actualization and be happy. And also by consuming a lot of Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes and Clavicular's content.

[Will Sommer]

But also it doesn't seem like he

[Andrew Egger]

has any actual political aims. He's just this guy who sort of emerged blinking in the sunlight into this space and when he has been asked by, you know, right wing podcasts about,

[Will Sommer]

you know, what he, how he actually

[Andrew Egger]

sees politics, he'll say weird stuff like, you know, I totally vote for Gavin Newsom over J.D. vance because J.D. vance is sort of overweight and has a recessed side profile. And, and Gavin Newsom is sort of hot and has good hair and all that stuff.

[Will Sommer]

And so like, is it, is it still true that this guy sort of actually represents anything like right wing and political or was that just sort of

[Andrew Egger]

like a weird blip in the development of Clavicular look smacking streamer who just sort of brushed up against politics for a weird second?

[Sam Stein]

No, I think Clavicular is still very much a sort of right wing reactionary character. You know, he very much represents this world where like given this nihilism, this idea that young men you have the world is stacked against you in this kind of extreme way that you have to go to. I mean, it's very depressing hearing him talk where it's like, it's not about, you know, finding love by developing your personality, your interests, being someone, you know, someone would like to be married to. But it's like, no, you need to smoke meth. You know, that's a pretty dark image and he's still hanging out with these people. But you know, you mentioned the Vance thing and I think this points to people might be saying, well, who cares about Clavicular? You know, he's this, obviously he's an odd character. But I would like to point to his, his influence in our national discourse. People have noticed over the past few weeks that J.D. vance has lost a lot of weight. There's been speculation is JD Vance on Retta True Tribe the sort of the new level of Ozempic? Now look, I don't think that's true. I don't know. But he has slimmed down and you can kind of market to when JD Vance said Gavin Newsom mogged. Or, excuse me, when Clavicular said J.D. vance mogged Newsom, J.D. vance saying that. That he was much more handsome. Right. And that J.D. vance had some pounds to lose. So did that prompt J.D. vance to go on a diet and maybe get into some GLP ones? I don't know.

[Andrew Egger]

It is really crazy that the degree to which sort of everybody living extremely online has totally flattened out the world where, like, anybody who goes, you know, mega viral, the Vice President's gonna see it.

[Will Sommer]

Or like, like.

[Andrew Egger]

And it's not just, like, weird little stuff like this. I mean, it's just to pull one. One other random example.

[Will Sommer]

Donald Trump appears to have gotten his idea to send ice to airports from

[Andrew Egger]

a random lady who called into, you know, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton's podcast and suggested that, you know, several days before, you know, and then Clay Travis goes on Fox News and he brings it up, and these clips go viral on the Internet and lo and behold,

[Will Sommer]

ice is actually marching into airports.

[Andrew Egger]

I mean, the Internet and the way

[Will Sommer]

that it connects things to other things

[Andrew Egger]

in a way that you wouldn't necessarily expect, and it goes around the preexisting networks and the, you know, who, you know, stuff matters so much less because, you know, if you happen to get an algorithmic hit, somebody in the White House is probably going to see it and maybe they'll even send ice to an airport, or maybe they'll even start popping ozempic, or injecting. I guess you inject ozempic, you don't pop it. That's my understanding.

[Sam Stein]

I think that's right.

[Andrew Egger]

Whatever.

[Will Sommer]

It doesn't matter.

[Sam Stein]

But, yeah, I mean, you're right. I mean, and we know JD Vance is very online guy already, so there's no way someone wasn't like Mr. Vice President, you know, they say. They say you're a moid who's getting mogged. I mean, he definitely said that.

[Will Sommer]

Yeah. An impediment has arisen.

[Andrew Egger]

J.D. there's a. There's a problem you've got on your hands.

[Sam Stein]

You won the CPAC straw poll, but we got some bad news.

[Will Sommer]

Right?

[Andrew Egger]

Right, Right.

[Will Sommer]

Yeah, I do.

[Andrew Egger]

I do wonder if that is. That is some small comfort to JD in this. In this trying time. Although Marco Rubio nipping at his heels in that cpect straw poll.

[Will Sommer]

Okay.

[Andrew Egger]

Thanks, Will, as always, for coming and talking through all this stuff.

[Will Sommer]

Is there anything else we need to hit before we. Before we split?

[Sam Stein]

I don't think so. I mean, look, we got another false flag coming out tonight. Sign up. You know, it's going to be about Mike Cernovich and his, his newfound criticism of Trump. So that should be exciting. You know, ayahuasca maybe plays a role. So check it out. You know, as always, thank you everyone for joining MAGA Monday. We'll be back next week.

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[Andrew Egger]

No purchase necessary vgw group void where prohibited by law 21 terms and conditions apply. This is Mike Borlow of Lexicon Valley

[Bob Garfield]

and I'm Bob Garfield. Are you one of those people who sometimes uses words?

[Andrew Egger]

Do you communicate or acquire information with, you know, language?

[Bob Garfield]

Hey, us too. So join us on Lexicon Valley to chew over the history, culture and many mysteries of English, plus some wisecracks.

[Andrew Egger]

Find us on one of those apps where people listen to podcasts.

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