The comms cabal also has strong Christian roots. Micah Bock, Homeland Security’s deputy assistant secretary for strategic communications, graduated in 2020 from Patrick Henry College, an evangelical Christian school. That same year, Dietderich graduated from Hillsdale College, another Christian school. And both Nixon and Aubrie Spady, who serves as the deputy press secretary at the Department of Interior, graduated from Liberty University in the past few years.
“My broad sense is that they are surprisingly religious,” says Bart Hutchins, the chef and co-owner of Butterworth’s—high-society MAGA’s own version of the Cheers bar where Kassam is also a partner—about the young staffers. “They make up a larger percentage of our early reservations than they do our late reservations.”
Whatever their bedtimes, they’re fluent in two languages: internet vernacular and Trump’s own communication style. The two are largely simpatico. Gone are the days of sanitized, fact-checked, carefully worded statements from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and now the same goes for federal agencies. Their boss’s ruthless rants and edgy memes mirror (and inform) the comms crew’s own feeds.
It also coincides with a shakeup in the administration-to-newsroom pipeline. Some of television news’s biggest stars—Tim Russert, Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopoulos, Nicole Wallace, Jen Psaki—emerged after government stints. But youngsters no longer need to wait for the Brady Room bully pulpit, or for a UTA agent to shepherd them on a TV news honcho meet and greet. Instead, becoming an independent political creator is an increasingly attractive path, especially on the right.
Katie Miller, who spent a few months as a DOGE spokesperson, launched a podcast last year. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s War Room regularly ranks in the top 10 American political podcasts. Dan Bongino just welcomed the president on his first podcast episode since leaving his post as deputy director of the FBI. And despite formerly hosting a show for Newsmax, Spicer has recently settled into a Morning Joe–like broadcast on social media.
It’s now an internet-to-administration-to-internet pipeline, where MAGA personalities behave no differently during that middle bit when they’re speaking on behalf of the people’s government.
And there’s risk with that. Ryan Williams, who runs the conservative think tank the Claremont Institute, said the administration has put its trust in mid-20-somethings to manage messaging because Trump’s social media style is theirs. “It’s kind of like getting the keys to dad’s car,” he says. “Will you speed? Yes. Will you crash the car? We hope not. But there’s a certain amount of confidence they’re placing in these kids who grew up with this form of communication and they’re letting them run with it a bit.”
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