Why a MAGA influencer turned on Trump

+ Pick me foods, a Hollywood power brawl, the return of OG Facebook, Zyn supremacy, and the Senator secretly running the Democrat's social media strategy

Clarkson Lawson was a prominent MAGA influencer on TikTok who amassed over 31 million likes and tens of millions of views. He built a platform as an outspoken Gen Z conservative making pro-Trump content. But in the months leading up to the election, something changed.

Despite building a massive audience on pro-Trump messaging, on the day of the election he had a change of heart. He voted for Kamala Harris and later announced his political pivot to his audience in a viral video titled "Why I left MAGA."

I became fascinated by Lawson’s story, because I think it reveals so much about the way young people are getting their political information and the industry forces that keep influencers tethered to right wing politics. It’s also a fascinating look at what happens when a political influencer attempts to pivot to the other side.

I sat down with Clarkson to talk about the behind-the-scenes reality of being a right-wing creator, what ultimately made him change his mind about Trump, how his audience and other influencers have reacted, and how he plans to evolve his platform and rebrand with his new political ideology. It’s all on the latest episode of my show Power User. Watch below and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more tech and online culture news and analysis!

Two Hollywood power players are involved a messy legal brawl

Is anyone else following the drama going down between A-list talent agency CAA and management firm Range Media Partners? Rage represents major stars like Bradley Cooper, Michael Bay, Johnny Depp, Michael Fassbender, Luca Guadagnino, Tom Hardy, Anna Kendrick, and more. CAA, meanwhile, has some of the biggest names in Hollywood like Ariana Grande, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Anne Hathaway and more. Range was founded by CAA’s former head of TV department Peter Micelli.

Now, the two parties are locked in a legal battle with CAA seeking a court order to block Range from “further violating the Talent Agencies Act,” a licensing scheme that says that only licensed talent agents are supposed to “procure” work for clients in the entertainment business.

CAA’s headquarters

CAA claims that former agents who defected and went to Range are skirting the law, which is designed to prevent conflicts of interest. Meanwhile Range is claiming that this is just a powerful talent agency attempting to punish longtime agents for leaving. They claim that is CAA a quasi monopoly that has “leveraged its dominance and market power to control key aspects of the entertainment industry.”

“CAA understands and welcomes fair competition,” a lawyer for CAA told THR. “What Range did is entirely different; emails, texts and witnesses prove it. Range set out to create a company that does not play by the same rules as everyone else, with individuals placing their interests and those of Range above their fellow equity holders, colleagues and clients.”

Orin Snyder, a lawyer for Range, shot back, saying that CAA is “trying to use its power to bully and intimidate Range and its founders.” Range claims that CAA retaliated against four former agents who went to Range by cancelling their equity. Range’s lawyer added that, “For an agency that professes to support talent, it’s ironic that CAA is now attempting to reduce choice in the industry.”

If you have any inside tea on this situation, reach out on hello@usermag.co, I’d love to hear the gossip from the inside!

What I’m reading

The MIT grad whose prediction market can reveal what Netflix show will be #1

Tarek Mansour’s Kalshi predicted Trump’s election. Now, his site’s users are betting on everything from Bob Iger’s exit day to Oscar odds for The Brutalist. - The Ankler

How Zyn Conquered the American Mouth

Why did Swedish nicotine pouches become a generation's go-to fix for blasting through long work days and longer nights out? - GQ

The salty, briny, lemony, garlicky rise of “pick me” foods

How pickles and olives became the avocado for Gen Z. - Vox

Pattern Recognition: Los Angeles burns – again.

When disasters feel like AI prompts, what can’t be predicted or replaced? - Spike

Bums vs. Billionaires: Malibu’s Silicon Valley Takeover is Almost Complete

'Seething resentment' as Big Tech is colonizing Hollywood’s hideaway, trampling on what locals hold dear. And the fires only make things worse. - The Ankler

What Was the Horny Profile?

The horny profile is now, mercifully, a mostly-dead genre, something that withered along with the popularity and influence of men’s magazines. But to re-read the horniest of them is to consider what function they once served. - Flaming Hydra

More fun stuff

Logan and Jake Paul landed a reality TV show about their lives on HBO Max titled Paul American.

Cory Booker is apparently in charge of Senate Democrats’ social media strategy, which explains why it’s been so atrocious.

The guy who has been chugging horse electrolytes got the results of his blood test back. He’s normal and healthy and has used the opportunity to launch a merch line.

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht got out of prison and immediately lost $12 million on meme coins.

The Taylorator is a piece of software that allows a person to flood the FM broadcast band with Taylor Swift's music.

Yahoo is trying to capitalize on 00s and 2010s nostalgia to position itself as cool again.

Mark Zuckerberg teased a "return to OG Facebook" as part of his key goals for 2025.

Karla Sofía Gascón, who’s up for an Oscar for her role in Emilia Pérez, is facing backlash after posting some truly awful racist tweets, but so far hasn’t had her nomination rescinded.

Twitch streamer IShowSpeed was named the official mayor of Lima, Peru. He was given the title for one hour.

After credentialing their first batch of content creators, the White House has cut all freelance journalists from the pool report distribution list. "No-one's answering the White House press line."

Anna Claire Howland, the 21-year-old SMU sorority girl who went viral after being pictured on New York Magazine’s “Cruel Kids” cover story about the pro-Trump influencer party sponsored by TikTok, set her IG to private after thousands of horny men began attempting to contact her.

Good luck to her

Nosferatu perfume and the oncoming avalanche of studio-sanctioned movie scents.

A well-connected NYU parent is trying to get students deported with the support of a 62,000-member Facebook group that is influencing NYU policy.

The menswear guy ‘just Kendrick’d a dude’ who disagreed with him about wristwatches.

Hawk Tuah girl Haliey Welch has not posted a single podcast episode since the disastrous launch of her meme coin 8 weeks ago.

Charli XCX released a limited edition vinyl for the ‘BRAT’ remix album, filled with white powder.

BookTok made Jacqueline Harpman’s Who Have Never Known Men, a dystopian novel from the ’90s, into an indie best seller.

Be like Bald Ann Dowd and pledge not to cross the NY Mag Union digital picket line.

Simon & Schuster’s Publisher on why the flagship imprint won’t require blurbs anymore: “In no other artistic industry is this common. How often does a blurb from a filmmaker appear on another filmmaker’s movie poster? … I believe the insistence on blurbs has become incredibly damaging to what should be our industry’s ultimate goal: producing books of the highest possible quality.”

Pentagon employees were using DeepSeek for days before it was blocked from federal computers. (DeepSeek actually stores U.S. user data on Chinese servers, unlike TikTok btw).

Poshmark is introducing AI-generated product listings.

LinkedIn’s ongoing efforts to woo video creators is paying off.

Dr. Disrespect, who is permanently banned from Twitch for allegedly inaproprialy messaging a minor, is monetized again on YouTube.

Subscribe to this very wholesome and funny YouTube channel run by an 8-year-old who is currently going through chemotherapy:

~Sponsored post~

Get 20% off DeleteMe using the code Taylor20.

One of the hardest things about being a high profile journalist covering online culture is becoming the internet's main character. It's happened to me more times than I can count. Algorithmic feeds have made it so that anyone, anywhere, at any time, can go viral-- whether they want to or not.

And even if you're careful about what you personally post, it doesn't matter. Content creators are using more "average" people for their content, whether it's for man on the street interviews, fit checks, or catching a stranger in an embarrassing moment, you can be sucked up into the viral content machine.

When this happens, thousands of people will scramble to investigate the details of your private life, your family relationships, and try to find out where you live. Data brokers make this so easy. They collect and sell your personal data to anyone willing to pay for it. This includes your name, address, phone number, and more. When someone buys your data through a broker, they don’t just see you either. They see your spouse, your kids, your parents. It’s a cascade of exposure that puts everyone you love at risk.

Removing this data can help you protect you from risks like identity theft, stalking, and harassment, but there are thousands of data brokers!

That's why I use DeleteMe. If you have spoken to me at all over the past few years, I've sung DeleteMe's praises. DeleteMe is an extremely easy to use subscription service that will remove your personal information that’s being sold online

It scours the internet for your personal information, handles the takedown requests, and keeps your personal life private—where it belongs. Their family plans are especially critical because, when you’re targeted, your loved ones usually are too. DeleteMe even provides regular privacy reports so you can see how much data they found on you, where it was found, and where it was removed.

Right now, you can get 20% off all consumer plans using my coupon code Taylor20

Don’t wait until it’s too late to safeguard your privacy. Make sure your data—and your family’s—stay protected this year!

For more great content follow my meme page, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and join my Instagram broadcast channel where I share links all week long.

Listen to my podcast Power User on Apple Podcasts:

Or follow Power User on Spotify: