If there has been one trend that has become glaringly obvious in 2025, it is arguably the toxicity of right-wing so-called influencers. It is 59 days into the new year, and over that time, this cadre of attention-seekers has regularly embarrassed itself with horrific decision-making, narcissism, and thirst for attention. Look no further than Thursday’s disgraceful and embarrassing display of self-absorption involving the supposed release of the files related to the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.
There may be no better example of this tomfoolery than the scene Thursday at the White House. On a day when Attorney General Pam Bondi said she would release the files of one of the greatest scandals and depraved acts of humanity in recent history, we witnessed what could only be referred to as a clown show. Instead of revealing the miscreants who engaged in abhorrent and egregious acts of sexual perversion, the country and the world saw a collection of “influencers” emerge from the White House, walking around holding up white binders and giggling like little children.
They were unserious people foolishly parading around about a serious matter. They are the modern and technological equivalent of bread and circuses. They are glorified entertainers meant for political amusement. And, on Thursday, they even failed to amuse. It was just the latest incident this month and this year in which an “influencer” was involved in a controversy.
Earlier in February, another “influencer,” hailed by many as a right-wing darling and cultural warrior, revealed her tryst with a billionaire and now-presidential adviser. The result of the affair was a love child, a fact that, on the surface, the “influencer” claimed to reveal under duress and a request for privacy, but the very next day, she had a photo shoot and in-depth interview in her affluent, posh apartment in New York City that was published in the New York Post.
Publicly, this influencer regularly stressed the importance of conservative values and a belief in returning to the days of a strong nuclear family. In private, it appeared she was doing quite the opposite. Moreover, her romance was not built on love but rather a desire to increase her fame, influence, and fortune. It was later theorized that this “influencer” benefited from the attention of the country’s favorite billionaire, who amplified her social media presence. She milked people who followed right-wing influencers so that it would raise her profile — and bank account.
In January, another right-wing “influencer” joined a counselor to the president in welcoming a suspected sex trafficker and all-around lousy guy to his podcast. After said podcaster faced waves of criticism for having this deviant on his show, he retreated to posting biblical verses on social media and frequently posting “Christ is king.” The pivot to religion was short-lived, however, because as soon as the controversy died down, coincidentally, so did the influencer’s frequency of posting verses from the Bible.
And herein lies the problem with “influencers”: They don’t care about anyone but themselves, their attention, their views, their clicks, their followers, and any other metric that gauges their popularity. We are approaching the point, if not already there, in which the right-wing “influencers” are no better than the left-wing versions from the Biden administration — people the Right regularly scorned.
At Thursday’s event, it is hard to believe that anyone cared about Epstein or, more importantly, getting justice for victims of Epstein’s horrendous and perverted crimes. They were there to get likes, clicks, and views. They were there to soothe their egos and constant cravings for attention. Everyone involved with that fiasco should be embarrassed and ashamed.
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No one, and I mean absolutely no one, should take anything these people say or do seriously ever again. They lack gravitas and have too much hubris. They represent everything wrong with modern society. They are unserious people who are little more than sycophantic rabble-rousers and provocateurs. They lack principle, integrity, and, frequently, genuine allegiances to conservative ideals but rather the paycheck that comes with promoting those ideals. And, as time has shown, they tend to be hedonists masquerading as conservatives.
On Thursday, they showed their value or lack of it. Let them return to their previous levels of obscurity. It’s long past time to make “influencers” irrelevant again.