Biden’s efforts to court influencers falter as viral photos of injured Trump draw support

As the presidential election season has shifted into high gear, coveted influencers are beginning to decide how and if they want to speak out. 

While both President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump have made efforts to court the online celebrities, hoping to attract Gen Z voters, recent events have appeared to inspire many creators with millions of followers to post in favor of Trump. While major influencers like TikToker Bryce Hall, YouTuber Jake Paul and streamer FaZe Banks have signaled support for Trump, few have vocally supported Biden.

Viral images of Trump raising his fist in defiance after surviving Saturday’s assassination attempt gave the Republican nominee a surge of internet support over the weekend from well-known influencers.

But major influencers have remained relatively silent in professing support for Biden — particularly since his fumbling debate performance on June 27.

“There is a lot of momentum around Trump right now when it comes to influencers,” said Martin Johannes Riedl, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “I think this is like a unifying power for fans and supporters of Trump to come and rally.”

In March, Wired reported that the White House invited dozens of content creators to attend briefings and “amplify the White House’s message across social media.” Last year, the White House also created a briefing space specifically for influencers.

Despite Biden’s attempts to woo online personalities, there has been a noticeable lack of support for him, even from those his team has directly reached out to. Many who previously endorsed Biden in 2020 have turned critical of the president in recent months or have remained silent.

The Biden campaign said in a statement to NBC News that it was meeting young voters wherever they were, and criticized Trump’s campaign efforts.

“Let’s not pretend for a second that Trump getting a couple of online bros to post about him counts as a dedicated outreach program. It’s insulting to the millions of young voters who care about the issues and fear for their economic futures, their access to health care, and living free from gun violence under a second Trump term,” Biden campaign spokesperson Seth Schuster said in an email. “Our campaign is reaching young voters wherever they are — in person and online, leveraging our deep bench of creators and influencers to get into smaller, more trusted spaces to mobilize young voters.”

The Biden campaign also pointed to several viral videos warning about a conservative strategic plan called Project 2025 from small to medium-sized creators on TikTok to illustrate how the campaign is resonating with young voters on social media.

Comedic creator Hassan Khadair, who has 6.3 million followers on TikTok, told The Washington Post in June that Biden will have to work harder to earn the Gen Z vote this election cycle compared to in 2020. Progressive advocacy organization Gen-Z for Change, initially founded in 2020 as TikTok for Biden, has not endorsed the president for re-election this time around.

Young people who are more left-leaning have also been particularly vocal against Biden online, criticizing him heavily for his backing of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and his controversial climate policies.

Pro-Biden influencer and activist Olivia Julianna, however, said she suspects there are more influencers who favor Biden than it may seem.

“If you’re outwardly supporting the president, you’re outwardly supporting Democrats, not only are you going to get criticism from the right, but you also get criticism from the left, too — from the further left than you are,” Julianna said. “And so I know a lot of people who are afraid to talk about politics because they feel like they’re just going to get endlessly critiqued by everyone, and they feel like it’s just safer for them to not say anything.”

Notably, a few of the political influencers who Wired reported visiting the White House during the spring have continued to support him, including Keith Edwards — who has 145,100 followers on X — and Emily Amick, who has 147,000 on Instagram. But the followings of those influencers pale in comparison to the online stars who have endorsed Trump.

“It was not a great night,” Edwards said in regard to Biden’s debate performance. “I just feel like there was no spinning it.” Still, he added that he thinks Biden is “doing a great job” and, in the online circles he’s in, people are still posting in support of Biden.

Meanwhile, Trump’s resilience Saturday inspired an outpouring of praise from major influencers, including some who generally veered away from politics online.

Hall, who has 23.7 million followers on TikTok, announced in the aftermath of the shooting that Trump “is my president.” In 2020, Hall donated several hundred dollars to Trump and other Republican candidates and organizations, according to campaign finance tracking group Open Secrets. Banks, who has nearly 5 million YouTube subscribers and is known for his esports group FaZe Clan, also expressed his support for Trump’s candidacy on Saturday.

Controversial YouTubers-turned-athletes Jake and Logan Paul, as well as mixed martial artist Conor McGregor, also more publicly aligned themselves with Trump over the weekend. 

“To survive an assassination attempt by mere millimeters then stop your security so you can raise your fist in defiance of death is the most badass thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Logan Paul posted on X.

In June, Trump appeared on Paul’s podcast, “Impaulsive,” where the two talked about topics ranging from aliens to the power of artificial intelligence. Paul said he also extended an interview invite to Biden, but Trump said he believed there was a “less than 1% chance” of Biden accepting. Jake Paul also donated $10,000 to the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee.

“The people Jake Paul speaks to are the people who are already susceptible to Trump’s messaging,” Edwards said. “I don’t think that [support] grows his base.”

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who has a following of more than 10 million across social platforms, similarly reshared the viral photo of Trump with the declaration “The election is over,” echoing sentiments online that Trump’s shooting — and his response to it — just won him the election.

The creators did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Some online have also taken the moment to highlight the issue of gun violence, expressing frustration that mass shootings in the country are rarely met with the same level of urgency. But Riedl, the assistant professor from the University of Tennessee, said it makes sense that those who are critical of Trump and Republicans may be being extra cautious right now.

“I think everybody’s trying to figure out what is the tactful response?” Riedl said of why pro-Biden influencers may be hesitant to speak out. “Obviously, raising campaign funds — not a tactful response in light of an assassination attempt.”

Still, even those who don’t support Trump as a politician have made jokes expressing reluctant praise for how he handled the assassination attempt. One viral video from influencer Zach Jelks had him facetiously crying over how much the photo of Trump “eats” (a slang term used to express admiration for someone who has done something impressive).

“Why does it eat? I’m so mad,” he screams in the video. “And I just feel like if it was Biden, I feel like Biden wouldn’t even have made it.”

Others have explicitly mocked Biden’s campaign. In June, Quen Blackwell, a YouTuber and TikToker with 9.8 million TikTok followers, made a 25-minute video devoted to mocking Kamala Harris on her typically apolitical channel. 

Trump’s renewed online popularity among influencers reflects young people’s longstanding acknowledgment of his entertainment value, regardless of whether they agree with his politics. After joining TikTok last month, Trump’s account surpassed Biden’s following in a matter of days and now sits at 8.3 million followers to Biden’s 427,000.

“He’s a reality TV star. This man has been in entertainment longer than I have been alive. Joe Biden is a longtime politician who has put his head down and gotten work done throughout his entire career,” Julianna said. “It makes sense that those two, when it comes to social media, are not the same.”