In an unexpected twist, former President Donald Trump's visage might be appearing on the screens of adult content viewers in key battleground states.
This unusual occurrence is the brainchild of FTW PAC, a political action committee established by Wally Nowinski and Matt Curry. The pair have devised a plan to run anti-Trump advertisements on selected adult content websites in swing states during the final fortnight of the election. The brief 10-second ad showcases an image of the former president with the caption, "Trump's Project 2025 will ban porn," followed by a warning to viewers to "Enjoy while you can."
According to Newsweek, this unconventional strategy by Nowinski and Curry is a response to polls indicating a surge in support for the former president among young men, including many first-time voters, in the final stages of the campaign. The duo believes these are the voters they need to connect with. Nowinski stated, "Half of the Trump coalition is really into things like Project 2025's abortion ban, porn ban, and the conservative agenda, JD Vance. The other half is like Barstool Sports bros who just want to be left alone." He added, "It's an efficient way to reach a lot of young men and highlight an agenda that they might not be very happy with."
The 2024 election has brought the nation's gender gap into sharp focus, with young men showing unprecedented support for Trump. Despite Vice President Kamala Harris leading among Gen Z women by a significant 30 points, she's only ahead of Trump by 4 points among Gen Z men, as per an NBC News poll conducted earlier this month. This is the trend that Nowinski and Curry aim to disrupt with their innovative approach to political spending.
Trump's increased popularity among young men can be attributed in part to the "bro" culture he embraced after leaving office in 2021. He has increased his presence in these circles over recent months, appearing on shows hosted by influencers such as Tho Von, Logan and Jake Paul, Adin Ross, and the Nelk Boys. The Nelk Boys, renowned digital content creators, have even launched a multi-million-dollar voter registration drive to encourage more young men to vote.
Progressive commentator and popular Twitch streamer, Hasan Piker, told CNN, "Every young man, at a certain point in their life, has had some kind of insecurity, whether it be about their sexuality or whether it be about their future prospects or whatever." He continued, "I think that a lot of these guys take advantage of that and present this false narrative that in order to be a man, you've got to be like homophobic. It's like no, a real man is going to want to protect people who are marginalized."
To date, FTW PAC's ads have been aired on a limited scale in Pennsylvania. The group plans to expand and run in more states by the end of the week, with another push closer to Election Day. As an independent PAC, Nowinski clarified that they do not communicate with either presidential campaign.
However, Nowinski has started to see online interactions that have sparked the conversation he and Curry aimed to initiate with FTW. He has observed Trump supporters debating the ad on social media, with one group arguing that the Republican nominee would never ban adult content and others arguing that he should and that he intends to, citing videos showing Trump advisers and acolytes promising a ban on pornography.
Nowinski stated, "It's an unexposed fault line, and that is the reason why Trump doesn't want to talk about the very conservative agenda that his team and JD Vance are cooking up with Project 2025." He added, "The gender gap is the dominant trend, the emerging trend in American politics." He further stated, "I'm not a male influencer or anything, but I am trying to get out this message to men: That this guy, who you might think is 'king of the bros,' actually has a very conservative agenda that is going to take away your porn, is going to ban abortion, is going to do all kinds of invasive, culturally conservative things and you should be aware."
Piker expressed that while the adult content campaign is an "interesting concept," he doesn't believe it's sufficient to sway a growing rightward subculture among young men. He stated, "A lot of them are anti-sex work and anti-porn, there's an entire culture surrounding 'porn addiction' that even goes to extremes like 'no fap' which is repackaged as holistic self help to masculine men. Those are the low-propensity voters Trump is going after." He added, "Right-wingers hallucinate an alternate reality where a billionaire with 8 bankruptcies born with a silver spoon is a defender of the working class. They hallucinate a reality where Ben Shapiro is more masculine than someone like myself simply on ideological terms. It's aspirational. They want to believe that simply being conservative makes you this masculine beacon."
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