Photo Credit: Spotify
The weekend before President Donald Trump’s inauguration saw Spotify hosting a brunch with Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, Riley Green, and others. The event was meant to highlight the power of podcasters during this election. YouTube did something similar.
Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter highlighted that Spotify donated $150,000 to the inauguration ceremony and celebration. That donation is peanuts compared to Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Uber each donating $1 million to the inaugural committee.
Spotify’s statement about the donation says “the donation aims to continue to expand our presence in Washington D.C. while furthering the goals of our platform and our creators. It is in line with the work we do in capitals around the world to advance our policy issues, regardless of who is in power.”
Meanwhile, the night before the inauguration several influencers celebrated their victory in helping Trump assume office for a second time. The event was sponsored by TikTok and was called the Power 30 to celebrate the right’s cultural victory. The event took place at the Sax, a club with garish decor only a few blocks away from the White House.
“I wanted to recognize the people who paved the way for the presidents return to the White House,” says CJ Pearson, Co-Chair of the RNC’s Youth Advisory Council and host of the party sponsored by TikTok. “We won the influencer election in 2024. We won one of the most important battles, one of the longest standing culture wars of our time.”
Trump’s appearances on popular podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience and Theo Von helped him reach millions. (Harris was invited onto TRE but declined to participate.) Those podcast appearances helped tip the balance for Trump, who was ushered into his second term thanks largely to these grassroots efforts—which YouTube CEO Neal Mohan acknowledges.
“One of the best parts about my job is actually getting to spend time with our YouTube Creators, because they really do set the culture,” Mohan said in a statement after YouTube’s creator event on Sunday night. “They are experimenting with new ideas in the media landscape, and it was amazing to have a front row seat this past year.”
