Manosphere for Good
Male Online Creators Took On Trump And Lee’s Sale Of Public Lands, And Won
After months of opposition from traditional left-leaning environmental groups, the attempt by Sen. Mike Lee and the Trump administration to sell public lands–ostensibly for housing development–was finally stripped last week from the “Big Beautiful Bill.” While credit is deserved for everyone who pushed to make this outcome a reality, a significant portion rightfully belongs to a group most likely to be overlooked in the post-mortem: the manosphere and right-leaning (or right-coded) cultural influencers, who relentlessly criticized Lee and Trump to their millions of followers across multiple platforms.
Shawn Ryan is a former Navy Seal who interviewed Trump on his podcast in 2024 and criticizes the “woke agenda” and “antifa.” Ryan–who has 8 million followers across Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook–posted videos, including one with Braxton McCoy that was retweeted by Joe Rogan. McCoy is an outdoor influencer and combat veteran who approvingly posts “A Woman in Every Kitchen. A Gun in Every Hand.”
After Lee removed the provision, McCoy wrote, “We won. Thank you all. My undying loyalty to those like @ShawnRyan762 and @jockowillink who really stuck their necks out here to support us. Thank you.“ Willink–who was highly critical of President Biden and endorsed Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense–has 7 million followers across Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Cameron Hanes, another outdoor-focused creator, has personally used his platform to boost Trump, appearing at both a pre-election rally and again at a "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) event once Trump occupied the White House. Hanes–who has 2.8 million followers across YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook–went hard after the public lands proposal at least 12 times, directly challenging Sen. Lee, with the tagline “Not. One. Acre”
Steve Rinella of MeatEater, hypermasculine host of a hunting show, has 4.4 million followers across Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Rinella–who praises Trump’s “tenacity” and mental toughness, but is less partisan than some of the other creators–wrote in an op-ed in the Free Press titled, “Will Trump Keep Public Lands in Public Hands?”:
“Our system of public lands and publicly owned wildlife was designed to be the antithesis of the Old World “European model,” in which the land and animals were hoarded by the wealthiest few and guarded against lowly commoners. In America, the wealthy elite do just fine when it comes to land ownership. It’s the rest of America that’ll get boxed in.”
Thor Bradley is a creator whose outdoor-focused content (without a shirt on) may imply more conservative politics than his stated support for abortion rights. Bradley–who has 13.8 million followers across Youtube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook–wrote, “If you see this post and jump to a partisan defense. If you see this post and want call me a "dem" (which I am not). If you see this post and want to defend corporations. Just hold off on even typing. I care about your experience as a us citizen, more than I care about any corporation...even if we disagree on other things. I hunt. I fish. Yes, We need better forest management. But don't try to convince me big corps care about your rights more than I do. Selloffs are a net negative. For all of us.”
These men at the nexus of right-leaning politics and the manosphere directly challenged not only a Republican senator but Trump himself, with a populist message centered on traditionally male activities. And much of their appeal is their perceived independence and willingness to challenge authority–all of which is held, at the federal level, by Republicans.
The left can both forge unlikely alliances and seek out and amplify these moments to fracture the right as they occur. The door has been cracked, we should keep pushing it open.