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- [00:00]
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- [01:02]
Tim Rice
Hello and welcome to another edition of behind the Story. I'm Daily Wire D.C. bureau Chief Tim Rice here as always to introduce you to our very talented reporters and give you the inside scoop on how what we put on the website gets on the website. So today, we're going to do something a little bit different. So far, every episode of this show, I've talked to one of my colleagues about a specific story they've written. We read the headline, we hear what goes into the story and how they got the tip. You know, how they ran it down, things that maybe didn't make it into the final draft. But today, I am so excited to welcome my friend and esteemed colleague Chloe Trapanato, who is one of the Daily Wire's opinion writers. Chloe, thank you so much for joining me.
- [01:45]
Chloe Trapanato
Tim, I am honored to be here.
- [01:48]
Tim Rice
So, before we get going, guys, I should just say that Chloe has plenty of bylines and headlines on the website, so we could. I could have done things the way that I usually do. I could have picked her most recent piece about how an elevator pitch for socialism kind of gives away the lie about socialism. We could have talked about Zoran Mamdani. We could have talked about Lindsey Graham. But instead, I kind of want to just zoom out a little bit and talk to Chloe about what her job is like and what it's like having to have an opinion and write it every single day. I mean, I think a lot of us like to think that it would be awesome to have opinions for a living. But I think a lot of us, myself included, who do write for a living, when we actually think about it, seriously find it very daunting. So, Chloe, why don't we just start there? What is it like having to have and write and share multiple opinions every single day?
- [02:41]
Chloe Trapanato
Well, I've basically, Tim, just accepted the fact that I'm never going to get to go on the Bachelor. I'm never going to get to go on the Voice. I'm never going to get to do any of the fun, cool, Hollywood influencer things that typical girls in this industry get to do because I have opinions that offend a lot of people. So you're right. And that it's daunting. But I've gotten over it and now I'm at the point where I put my opinion out there so much everything's been thrown to the wind. And this is just. I've accepted this. I've accepted the fact that I'm basically canceled anywhere outside of conservative politics, and I'm fine with that. I'm so blessed and grateful to be doing what I do. I do just give my opinion every single day. It's not all of my opinions, though. I throw a lot of facts in there. I'm learning a lot. A good bulk of my job is just to read, watch and listen to certain things to give myself a better understanding of what's going on in the world. So I feel really blessed to be doing what I'm doing.
- [03:42]
Tim Rice
That's very good to know, and I'm sorry that you won't ever be able to go on the Bachelor or the Bachelorette, but I'm glad that you've accepted your pre cancellation. But I think there's another daunting part of it and you just sort of touched on it, which is again, you're not just. It's easy to have an opinion on everything. It's easy to say that's dumb, that's good, that's bad. But I'm just going to read off the headlines of the past few pieces that you've written. The 30 second pitch for socialism left out the part where it kills people. The Coco Chanel commies making radical chic look quaint. Freddie LA 7 An immigration plan we can believe in. Set your AC to 78 for the collective comrade Hot girl summer turned into the summer of socialist scaries. I mean, these are great, but these are all and I encourage to go read them. These are Substantive, well written, fact based pieces. Is that not the. That's what I would find more. I've also accepted being canceled, but is it not daunting to have to like this? Seems like really hard work.
- [04:38]
Chloe Trapanato
It is really hard because a lot of the ideas that Democrats are throwing around and socialists are throwing out there seem so lovely on the surface. I mean, the idea of free everything. The guy that I wrote about yesterday, his pitch for socialism is that it gave you more friends. So yeah, I mean, on the surface these things sound really lofty and idealistic and nice. So I go in there and I debunk what they're saying. So yes, it's hard and yes, it takes a lot of research and a thorough understanding of history and like why we've seen some of these things before and how it's going to come back to bite us in the butt again. But it's good, it's all good because we're all learning together today. My piece is called Over Educated, Under Capitalized and Insufferable. And that is in regards to the recent data that just came out about very liberal voters being highly educated and very, very poor. So knowing that just kind of helps explain the rise in democratic socialism that we're seeing and the rise in communism. Because we know historically revolutionaries tend to start with overly educated, very aggrieved and very poor young people. And we're seeing that play out again. So yes, it's daunting and it's difficult, but I think it's so, so important that we do have the substance and the facts surrounding this stuff because it just helps to debunk the libs all the more.
- [05:59]
Tim Rice
Amen to that. Now, one thing that I think people might be surprised to find, given how prolifically and how well you write, is that you haven't been a writer, strictly speaking, for that long. So can you tell us a little bit about, you know, how you got here, what you were doing before, and sort of how the jobs are different or how they're maybe the same.
- [06:23]
Chloe Trapanato
Well, you were right earlier when you said that I have a lot of bylines. I feel like I'm just made up solely of bylines. My journey here has been so interesting and I think the reason that I'm so passionate about explaining my stances is because of how I got here. I'm a very argumentative person. I've had to defend my beliefs time and time again growing up. So it's really important to me to have facts and data behind my very, very charged opinions. And this all Started because I. Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning. I got pretty interested in politics about 10 years ago when Donald Jaquan Trump was elected the nominee for the Republican Party in 2016. I couldn't understand why people were so upset, crying on the streets. And so that's when I kind of got into politics. I was a. Oof. Was I a freshman in.
- [07:19]
Tim Rice
Well, we don't need to get into all that. You're just gonna make me feel better.
- [07:21]
Chloe Trapanato
Okay, so. Well, when I went to college, it was 2020, it was Covid time, and Joe Biden was elected to office. It was really hard to be a conservative at Ohio State. Even though we're in a red state, it was still a liberal school. So I really wanted to get into journalism. But when I tried to write for our newspaper, the Lantern, I was quickly shot down. They took out a lot of my sentences and paragraphs about Joe Biden being a vegetable and whatnot. So I felt like maybe I could hone my craft in another way. So I went into sports broadcast journalism. And I spent the next three to four years at Ohio State covering sports. I did football, soccer, lacrosse, swimming, all of the things I had so much fun. Thought that I wanted to be a sideline reporter. Um, but I just could not scratch that political itch that I always had doing sports, obviously. So instead of becoming a beat writer for the Buckeyes, which is a job that I almost took right before or right after I graduated, I pivoted and last minute moved to D.C. i just wanted to get my foot in the door in media. So I accepted a job with Flexpoint Media. That was a political PR firm. And because at Ohio State I was so interested in politics, I was often explaining to my sorority sisters what was going on in the world. So I would just give them bite sized bits of news in the kitchen where I was lighting things on fire. One time I actually did light myself on fire. But I just told my friend right before we left our senior year, I said, you know what? I'm going to move to dc. I'm going to take this job in political advertising. I'm going to start posting on social media about politics, and then I'm going to go on Fox and blow up and work at the Daily Wire. And literally all of those things ended up happening a year and a half to two years later. God is so good. So I've always had to defend my positions, whether that was with sorority sisters or guys that would make me cry in pizza shops when I was explaining Why I voted for Trump in college. But yeah, I went into journalism via sports. That was my Trojan horse into broadcast journalism. And here I am today writing for the Daily Wire, a company that I've been a fan of since I was 16 years old.
- [09:43]
Tim Rice
I mean, what a journey. And that is hopefully, hopefully an inspiration to some of our listeners that you really, it's really. If I had to distill your career journey down into one, one slogan, it's you can just do things. Which is my favorite, my favorite bit of Gen Z slang because I think it's right. You could, you could do things, you
- [10:01]
Chloe Trapanato
could just, you can just do things.
- [10:02]
Tim Rice
You could just start posting videos on explaining politics and build a whole career out of it. And so let's. I want to talk about those videos because this is something you still do. This is right. That's the other big chunk of what you spend your day doing.
- [10:13]
Chloe Trapanato
Yes.
- [10:14]
Tim Rice
It's all Politics on Instagram, TikTok and X. Is it the same or are you. Is it.
- [10:18]
Chloe Trapanato
It's all the same now.
- [10:19]
Tim Rice
All the same.
- [10:20]
Chloe Trapanato
I finally figured it out. It took me a while, but here we are.
- [10:23]
Tim Rice
So what, what, what is, how are like, talk to me a little bit about what, what it's like going or going between those two things. Do you. Easier, harder. Is one more challenging, rewarding? Are they more similar than we would think? More different than they would think? Like what's, what's that like doing both the on paper opinion writing and then the kind of quick digestible news briefs on social media?
- [10:47]
Chloe Trapanato
Yes. It's been so interesting to navigate because I do feel like I have three separate jobs and they all have me working a different muscle. Obviously my job is an opinion writer for the Daily Wire, but then I also am posting on social media for myself and for the Daily Wire. Like you said, that's different. That's bite sized news for the Daily Wire. Those are more lengthier opinion pieces. And then also we go on, you know, Fox and different TV hits and podcasts a lot. So we also have to know how to do the on air stuff. So it's been really, really challenging because you almost have to turn on a different part of your brain for different sections of the day. I start my days prepping for my articles. I'll read a lot of opinion articles and just pieces. I will scroll X. I'll kind of get a feel for what I want to talk about for the day. I'll go into writing mode and then right after that I have to pivot to Gen Z talking on my phone, like I'm talking to my best friend. Mode of journalism, where I have to give it, give the news to people like my sister, my younger sisters, who maybe aren't paying attention to politics as much. They're in college, they're having fun. They don't really want to pay attention to the news, but they don't want to sound stupid while they go on their dates. So they want the news in a quick, digestible MANNER in about 60 seconds and they want to sound smart. So then I just kind of switch like a transformer into a new gear. I go back to my sorority days and I give the news to the girls and the guys who listen. I find both to be very, very fun. It's nice doing the opinion articles first because I can explain things to myself and readers at a higher level, a more nuanced level, and then that helps me distill it down a lot easier when I go to write just like my 60 to 90 second script for social media. But it's hard. I do take inspiration from Ben Shapiro because I think about him a lot when I'm doing this because he is a genius, just like you are, Tim. And he's so smart, but he's able to break down topics. It's such a beautiful way for listeners in about an hour. So I guess it's longer than my social media videos. But I just feel like he does a really good job of articulating things. So I try to channel that energy whenever I'm making my little political videos. But then, you know, after I make the political video that sometimes we post on just my Instagram, sometimes we post on the Daily Wire, then you have to get ready for a 90 second hit on TV and it's pretty hard. But like yesterday, the piece about the pitch for socialism, that worked well on both because I can write an article about it and then I can do my little walk and talk videos where I play the clip and then break it down so it flows seamlessly. But it is, it is hard to work those different muscles. But we're getting better at it, hopefully every day I'm trying.
- [13:47]
Tim Rice
Well, I mean, I think you're doing great on all the levels, but yes, I can imagine how it's a little bit tricky. And I think what's really interesting, and I hadn't even really considered this until you just said it, but the you. You know, I would think if I, if I hadn't thought about it, if you would ask me, I would have said that doing TV hits and doing Your videos were probably kind of the same mode, but of course, now that you describe it, it's not because sitting on a Fox panel or on a, you know, a political talk show for, you know, broadly speaking, that's audiences are, you're assuming that they're informed and they're looking for enlightened debate and discussion over an issue, whereas the videos are. And yeah, I mean, that's. You really, you really do do. You really do do a lot. That's. I should, I should tell you that more.
- [14:32]
Chloe Trapanato
Oh, thanks. The audiences are so vastly different. That's what's so interesting. And, and even my social media audiences are different across platforms like X. Sometimes I don't even bother posting my videos to X because those people, they know everything.
- [14:48]
Wayfair Announcer
So it's.
- [14:48]
Chloe Trapanato
Sometimes it's not even worth posting there when I'm just doing like a. Let me break down this topic for people maybe who don't follow the news as much. So that's been kind of interesting navigating that because I think I've cultivated my social media audiences to be different. TikTok. They really don't know a ton about politics or the news. They're much younger. That blew up during the first 12 day war with Iran. They were all so stressed out that we were all gonna die and I had to convince them that we were fine. And then Instagram, that happened more gradually. Those people are a little more news savvy and then X, they're the news savvy. Est. So even on there it's like, you know, you're only resonating with certain audiences and certain people just depending on what you say. I don't know if that makes sense.
- [15:37]
Tim Rice
You have different, like, do you interact with your audiences and do you have like, do you get questions from them? Do you. Or they. Different feedback? Do you, do you find like that the interactions are different based on the different caliber of the audiences?
- [15:50]
Chloe Trapanato
Yes, TikTok. It's a lot of like I'm a young college graduate or I'm graduating soon and I've been so afraid to speak out. And you give me confidence to like talk about politics among my high school friends and on my team, much younger people. But sometimes you get parents who are, who say similar things. And then Instagram, it's a mix. It's a lot of young women. Um, well, I guess my Demographics are split 50, 50 male and female, but for a while it was mostly young women just finding confidence in what they were saying in their ideologies because I was so blatantly and aggressively talking about it. So it kind of opened the door for them to talk about conservative politics in their own spaces. But that XP X, it's a lot of old men, you know, they know what they're talking about, sort of. Or they'll just say something anti semitic, even though I'm Catholic. It's confusing.
- [16:47]
Tim Rice
That comes with territory. One thing that's interesting is, you know, there are. It's sort of the conventional wisdom in Washington or in journalism more generally is that no one under. You hear it in different forms. No one under the 30 should have an opinion. No one wants to read a 25 year old's opinion. You know, you should if you want to. If you want to be an opinion writer, you should spend 15 years as a journalist and then graduate.
- [17:14]
Chloe Trapanato
And I'm a woman, so I'm not allowed to speak on any of this.
- [17:18]
Tim Rice
I have, I have always thought that, that the, those sort of grand pronouncements are a little too broad brush, a little ridiculous. Especially now when there's such a plethora of outlets. But you know, there is, there is. I think it's the nicest version of that is a little bit. It's kind of fair, right? Like, oh, you know, I don't want someone who doesn't have experience in the world. I'm not, I don't. I don't think this again, obviously I think you're good at this, but how do you. I'm sure this is something you're aware of. Right. And how do you, how do you feel about talking?
- [17:57]
Chloe Trapanato
Yeah, I love talking and thinking about this. I talk about this with our reporter Brecka Stahl a lot. We call it marinating. We do feel young and we feel that we're inexperienced and wholly uneducated compared to the likes of you and Ben Dominage and Brent Cher and, you know, people at the Daily Wire, they know what they're talking about. So sometimes we feel inadequate. But that is an easy thing to work on in this day and age. I don't think I could do what I'm doing 10 years ago because now I'm able to learn stuff so much faster. So we marinate. So me and Breca, we're working on reading as much as we can, watching as many movies as possible to almost catch up. Because we are just normal girls who have lives and didn't spend all of our youth reading and rereading the Federalist papers. So we're catching up and it's easy to catch up.
- [18:52]
Tim Rice
I feel attacked by that one but that's okay.
- [18:53]
Chloe Trapanato
Sorry. I know. I wish I did, but I unfortunately did not. Now I can ask Grok to. To read to me the Federalist Papers. I can ask Grok about the history of Soviet Russian Communism, the difference between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, and get an in depth understanding of these very complex historical topics in an hour, which is excellent. So it helps me do my job because, you know, if I'm tasked with something that I don't fully understand, I'm able to do research so much quicker. Um, and I think that's been so, so helpful. So, yes, I totally agree with you that, you know, a lot of us young peeps are not totally qualified to speak on all of these topics. But don't worry, audience. I educate myself to the highest degree possible before I go on spouting off my opinion. Thanks to Elon Musk and, you know, just different. And like, you guys are giving me book recommendations. Ben's giving me movie recommendations. I'm learning as much as I can. So I'm not just talking out my. Out my butt.
- [19:57]
Tim Rice
I also, I want to be very. I want to be very clear that I do not actually, I do not think that young people cannot or should not be opinion writers. I'm just. I was saying to those in our audience who might not agree that this is like the one thing you. You won't even say it. Like, I. And it happened to me. I was like 23 and I. I wasn't even a full time op ed writer. I would just. Just occasionally write op eds and I'd get emails from grumpy old guys saying, you know, sit down until you're 35. And it's like, I have a full time job. I just, like, I just had a take. Yeah, National Review. If you don't want to read my, My one off op ed, like, thank you.
- [20:33]
Chloe Trapanato
Right. No, I totally agree. And then some of the comments are like, okay, Chloe, this is why we need to repeal the 19th. And just. So, yeah, I get it. And I. And I have these qualms and I get worried, like, am I qualified to be talking about this? I mean, I've had this almost like imposter syndrome thing for a very long time. Like, I was 23 when I started going on national television and talking about politics. And it's so terrifying because we're children. But, you know, I'm trying to learn and catch up, which is a good and excellent and benevolent thing. And I love it so much. I love learning. So it's the perfect job for me.
- [21:14]
Tim Rice
I love that. So one last question for you, and I think I'm certainly interested, and I assume everyone watching at home would be interested too, is where does an opinion writer or which opinion columnists does an opinion writer read? And I'm giving you a restriction, making it harder. You can't say anyone we work with, with whom we work. That's, that's a. It goes without saying that the entire Daily Wire opinion team is fantastic and everyone should go read them. But other than our colleagues.
- [21:47]
Chloe Trapanato
Yes.
- [21:47]
Tim Rice
Who do you go to for. For sound opinions on the news of the day?
- [21:51]
Chloe Trapanato
Okay. And before I answer that, I wanted to, I had this thought that I wanted to also mention. The reason why I do think it's sometimes important for young people to share their thoughts and opinions is because we are experiencing and maybe the impetus for a lot of what we're seeing in culture and news. Like, I just wrote a piece about Brianna Chicken Fry lambasting Erica Kirk. Brianna Chicken Fry. No old person would really know, but she is kind of exemplary of, like, what's wrong with women, like, young women right now in culture, they are very promiscuous. They just want to have what they call hooker summers and that and, you know, cultures downstream from politics or whatever. However it is politics is downstream from, you know, what? Sometimes both apply. So, you know, I feel like being a young person that used to watch Brianna Chicken Fry, that made me qualified to talk about Brianna Chicken Fry making fun of Erica Kirk. But anyway, I listen and read Ayanna Hercieli of the Free Press. I love Douglas Murray. I like the Free Press in general. I think my writing style is kind of similar to Barry Weiss's wife, Nelly Bowles. She's really, really funny. Sometimes I try to channel Nellie Bowles, Wall Street Journal op ed page. I read a good amount. Gerald Baker. I like James Freeman. I like Alyssa Finley. They, they have a little less personality, but their, their pages, they really get to the point, which is something that I have trouble doing sometimes, Sometimes I have too much personality and I, I don't really, you know, wrap it up quick enough. I like the Free Press. I like the Wall Street Journal. I read Random People on X and a lot of the Daily Wire. What else? I, I, I'm frugal, so I don't buy a lot of, of subs subscriptions. So sometimes even when my editor, Ben, will send me stuff from a different outlet, I have to, you know, go on Archive Ph, the website that allows you to hijack the system and get the article for free. And sometimes that doesn't work. So it's hard as an opinion writer to read a lot of other people's opinions when you're not willing to get behind their paywall. But I feel like the Wall Street Journal and the Free Press get me, get me where I need to be.
- [24:27]
Tim Rice
I think this is the. I think this is the. The first time we've ever had the confession of intellectual property theft on behind the Story. We had Lyndon. Lyndon. Our colleague Lyndon Blake was the first person to sing on behind the Story. You're the first person to confess to a digital, digital piracy. We're just, you know, we're constantly innovating here, which I feel so bad about
- [24:50]
Chloe Trapanato
doing because Hasan Piker does this too. And I don't want to. I don't want to be like him in any way, shape or form. So I feel bad doing it, but.
- [25:00]
Tim Rice
Duly noted. I was gonna end there, but I actually just thought of one more question that I want to ask you because you're answering.
- [25:05]
Chloe Trapanato
And what does Lyndon sing on here? Should I sing something?
- [25:08]
Tim Rice
If you, if you want, you can sing at the end. How do you. Because this is something that I always wonder when I'm writing like a book review or something. I have a pretty hard and fast rule. If I'm gonna write a review of something, I don't read any other reviews until I have written my review. Because I don't want to, you know, have kind of pre. I don't want to like, take other person's ideas. But I think that's, that's very easy to do when it's a one off. Like just. You don't have. Right. I can. If you're reviewing a book, you don't need to read other people's takes, just like have an opinion on the book. I think it's probably harder. And in fact, probably sometimes opinion writing requires digesting, maybe even responding to, agreeing with, disagreeing with other opinion writers. So how do you balance that? Do you have a process? Does it depend on the issue? Like, at what point do you start bringing in other folks, other people's opinions into your writing?
- [26:02]
Chloe Trapanato
Good question. I feel like this has changed a bit since I started. I don't know. I'm still navigating that because I've only been writing opinions for like three months. But I, I mean, let's take the Odyssey as an example. I. I haven't had to write about that yet, thank God, because I didn't know much about it. So for something like that, if I were to have had to comment on that, Whether that be Newsmax, like I was supposed to do yesterday, or the Daily Wire editorial pages. I would have had to draw on other people's opinions just because I did not read the original poem by Homer. Sadly. I mean, I guess I did a little bit in high school. And I didn't watch Troy with Brad Pitt, which is terrible of me. I meant to do at least.
- [26:59]
Tim Rice
You should do at least one of those things.
- [27:01]
Chloe Trapanato
I need to, absolutely. Yes. I did start the TV show on Amazon Prime. I'd already watched that in school, but I was going to rewatch it. I only got a few episodes in. I need to watch Troy. And I did watch the Odyssey last night. So the what how I felt about the Odyssey was a regurgitation of what other people I look up to, how they felt about the Odyssey. I don't really have any original takes on that, but for something that requires my fresh mind, I usually read about it first. I do as much just pure primary source research as I can. First I'll form, like a general idea of what I want to say. I'll outline my piece. And then I guess it's kind of hard to avoid other people's opinions as well. I mean, if you're scrolling on X, every other tweet is somebody's opinion, typically about the thing I'm writing about. Because I. I write about the topic of the day, so it's hard not to be influenced by what other people are saying. Especially when you have to do research on X ahead of writing the piece. I guess just trying to find my own angle on certain things and be creative, as creative as I can be when it comes to stuff like that. I do that for TV as well. A media trainer told me to bring something fresh to the table that no one's thought of yet, which sometimes you can't do, but if you can try to do that. So I'll bring a new fact in, or just like a different Gen Z take that I may have, because again, not many people are 24 and writing about Democratic socialism. So that's always helpful. Just bringing in a personal experience, a personal anecdote, or a new fun fact that nobody else has really brought to the table yet.
- [28:50]
Tim Rice
I love it. Chloe Trapanato is one of the Daily Wire's opinion writers. Chloe, thank you so much. This was a wonderful conversation. I very much appreciate you joining me.
- [29:01]
Chloe Trapanato
Of course. Tim, thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.
- [29:04]
Tim Rice
All right, guys, we'll see you next time.