How celebrity fandom explains Trump

Explain It to Me

Vox Media Podcast Network

Education, Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To no one’s surprise, former president Donald Trump handily won the Republican Iowa caucuses this week. Despite his recent bout of legal trouble, he still has the backing of a dedicated voting base. But at times, his base feels more like stans than supporters. This week on The Weeds, host Jonquilyn Hill sits down with Vox culture writer Aja Romano to discuss the origins of fandom, the toxicity of stan culture and online harassment, and how we’ve trained politicians to be performers first. Read More: The “Dark Brandon” meme — and why the Biden campaign has embraced it — explained Zhang Zhehan is a deepfake: fandom conspiracy theories are getting worse — Vox What Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ Tour Tells Us About Trump’s Appeal — Politico 2024 campaign: Trump rallies aren't even about politics at this point — Slate Submit your policy questions! We want to know what you’re curious about. Credits: Jonquilyn Hill, host Sofi LaLonde, producer Cristian Ayala, engineer A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this show comes from Krakan.
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0:07.0	It doesn't care where you come from, what you look like, your credit score,
0:11.0	or your outrageous food delivery habits.
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0:21.3	Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest.
0:25.0	This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.
0:30.6	There's a big difference between talking and reporting, especially right now with a fire hose worth of news coming your way.
0:36.5	You know what helps? Having reporters in the field. I'm Brad Milkey from ABC News,
0:41.0	and that's what we've got on ABC's daily podcast start here.
0:45.5	Every morning, Start Here takes you across the country and around the world for a quick, smart
0:49.8	look at the stories that matter.
0:51.6	It's fast, it's straightforward, and sometimes gasp, news can even be fun. So let's meet up tomorrow morning.
0:57.0	Listen to start here wherever you get your podcasts.
1:01.0	This is The Weeds. I'm John Gwen Hill.
1:04.0	And I don't know if it's just me, but it feels like the spectacle of celebrity looms larger than ever now.
1:12.0	Last summer, two of the biggest names in pop music brought in
1:15.7	hundreds of millions of dollars touring. Ticketmaster's massive site crash during
1:20.4	the fan pre-sale for Taylor Swift's Arrow's tour.
1:23.2	U.S. tickets for Beyonce's Renaissance World Tour finally on sale.
1:28.2	This real estate agent offering to help fans list their homes so they can afford tickets.
	...

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