2 weeks Ago By Makena Kelly
Over the past few days, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this TikTok I watched over the weekend. In it, fashion influencer Elysia Berman claims that the foundations of a second Trump presidency have been laid for a long time, citing the quiet luxury, conformity, and old money trends dominating the lifestyle industry. She points to this style resurgence as an indicator that people, herself included, should have seen a Trump win coming.
Look to the return of Ralph Lauren, Berman suggests. Or the aestheticization of Catholicism and the farm-to-table-to-Instagram-grid “tradwife.” These trends creeped out from the more fringe parts of the internet during the first Trump administration, and have since been legitimized and become more dominant in contemporary culture.
“I think a lot of people are gonna start dressing a lot more conservatively,” Berman says. Trump’s successful influencer and pod bro campaign spoke to young men , and created a new style of fandom for him online. But it also seems like a new aesthetic of Trump 2.
0 has emerged too. This is an edition of the WIRED Politics Lab newsletter. Sign up now to get it in your inbox every week.
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🎧 Listen to the WIRED Politics Lab podcast . Soon after Trump’s election, my TikTok For You page became littered with women frustrated that some of their favorite lifestyle influencers of all stripes have either hinted at or announced their support for Trump. They’re sharing lists of “Trumpy” creators in comment sections and posting videos encouraging others to unfollow them as part of what could become a new “Block Out” movement.
For example, some fans of Scout Dixon West, a perfumer and “cool girl” influencer , have recently criticized her for liking posts from Jessica Reed Kraus, the pro-Trump writer of the House Inhabit newsletter who initially started out as a mom blogger. Kraus could be found all along the campaign trail this cycle with either Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
or the Trump campaign. There are dozens more: Even before the election, former “Vlog Squad” member Corinna Kopf endorsed Trump. Mika Lafuente, a model and influencer, posted a video endorsing Trump along with dance videos, wearing a MAGA hat, on TikTok.
Not everyone, of course, is the same. Some of the newly uncovered pro-Trump women online run small businesses while remaining deeply devoted to raising their families. Some are skeptical of mainstream narratives, and experiment with wellness products.
(Though wellness influencers, of course, have long been a right-wing staple .) Even dating creators, while maybe never addressing politics directly, instruct single women to marry “providers” or to lose weight. Look at model Nara Smith, who has become the preeminent example of a “tradwife” on TikTok.
You’re likely all too familiar with her , but for the uninitiated, she is a young mother whose content revolves around creating everything her family eats (yes, everything ) from scratch. Smith has rebuked criticism that either her Mormon faith or her husband, model Lucky Blue Smith, influence her work, but her content plays into the narrative of a tradwife nonetheless. Lucky Blue Smith has faced pushback over the past few days for his political beliefs after he reposted a video from Scott Presler celebrating a Trump court victory.
All of this seems like a rejection of the girlboss politics that was more indicative of the Hillary Clinton and Ruth Bader Ginsburg era than the JD Vance one we find ourselves in today. The cultural, dating, and internet trends dispensed by many of these creators is emblematic of what the Republican Party refers to as “traditional values.” But, at least on TikTok and Instagram, it’s wrapped up in an aesthetic that isn’t just acceptable, or normal, but perceived as .
.. kind of cool.
The quiet part has apparently been there for a while: Instead of bashing immigrants, these influencers were promoting items “Made in America.” Instead of calling for slashed taxes, they’re leasing expensive cars. Only now that Trump won (and by a large margin), it seems, do some of these creators feel comfortable telling the world their true political beliefs.
Some of Trump’s own family members are helping to lead the aesthetic rebrand. Ivanka Trump has largely disappeared from politics, but like these influencers, she espouses similar hobbies and values, using her social media presence to post family photos and clips of her surfing or traveling. Similarly, Kai Trump, Donald Trump Jr.
’s 17-year-old daughter, has started her own YouTube channel where she’s been posting vlogs, documenting how the Trump family spent election night and what it’s like having the former president as a grandfather. According to her vlogs, it’s less politics and more Starbucks runs. And with politics kind of out of the picture, these women live aspirational lives—catch them globe-trotting in luxury branded clothing instead of supporting the latest cabinet pick.
These influencers come from all corners of the loosely-defined “lifestyle” ecosystem, which includes the trad wives and wellness gurus. Unlike the groyper fans that ruled Trump’s first administration, these creators are more palatable to mainstream tastes. Trump’s granddaughter Kai is fluent in their content and creating more of it herself.
While the Trump campaign’s new media strategy has been front-and-center of nearly everyone’s election autopsies ( including mine ), there was something happening in the background that perhaps wasn’t schemed. A new, desirable, imitable aesthetic was born—and this time it wears a MAGA hat. The Chatroom For this week, I’d love to hear about your relationship between politics and personal style.
Have you seen a resurgence in conservative trends in-person and online? Or perhaps, the communities you belong to are becoming even more alternative? I want to know! Send your thoughts to [email protected] . WIRED Reads The WIRED Guide to Protecting Yourself From Government Surveillance : The WIRED security team put together an extensive guide on how to protect your personal privacy and safety online from government surveillance under an incoming Trump administration.
Donald Trump’s New ‘Border Czar’ Defended Child Separation at Festival Held by Gun-Worshipping Sect : Trump has made a handful of truly bizarre nominations to his cabinet. Tom Homan, Trump’s pick for “border czar,” recently spoke at an extremist gun festival. Donald Trump Taps Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy to Lead Nonexistent Department of Government Efficiency : Trump officially announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would cochair the nonexistent Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE (ugh).
How Trump plans to make this agency without an act of Congress is beyond me. Want more? Subscribe now for unlimited access to WIRED. What Else We’re Reading 🔗 Who’s Who in the Musk ‘A-Team’ Vying to Shape Trump 2.
0 : Musk’s backing of Trump secured him a role in the former president’s administration. Here’s who Musk could take with him. (Financial Times) 🔗 Democrats Could Have Won.
Our Excuses Mask a Devastating Reality : John Della Volpe is broadly accepted as the best pollster on young voters and the issues they care about. This week, he argues that Democrats failed this cycle because the party’s youth messaging, while deeply online, did not resonate with young voters. (The New York Times) 🔗 AI Didn’t Sway the Election, But It Deepened the Partisan Divide : A new report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue suggests that AI-generated content has made it more difficult than ever before for voters to parse the truth from fiction online.
(The Washington Post) The Download On the WIRED Politics Lab podcast this week, Leah interviews our global editorial director Katie Drummond about the internet in the age of Trump. Listen to the pod here . I’m also speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis this evening.
You can stream it at 7 pm ET here . And a strange coincidence that I’m sure you all are noticing ..
. That’s it for today—thanks again for subscribing. You can get in touch with me via email , Instagram , X , and Signal at makenakelly.
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