Kyle Tharp
Writer & researcher | Author of Chaotic Era, a new newsletter about politics, media, and online influence | 15x ultramarathoner | Subscribe: www.chaoticera.news
- “The account has just been sitting dormant…the boom and bust of (political campaigns) standing these accounts up during the election cycle, putting all the work into building audience, and then just leaving—that process has to be reevaluated.” www.chaoticera.news/p/behind-the...
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- 🚨 NEW: I spoke to the team behind "Headquarters," a new project that will rebrand Kamala Harris' viral social media accounts in order to promote progressive content ahead of the midterms. www.chaoticera.news/p/behind-the...
- New: People actually watch Don Lemon! And they call themselves "Lemon Heads." 🍋 www.chaoticera.news/p/the-rise-o...
- Basically the entire MAGA media ecosystem is encouraging Trump to take over Greenland, and some of the biggest are cheerleading the end of NATO. Here's a quick roundup: www.chaoticera.news/p/top-conser...
- 👀 @captmarkkelly.bsky.social has seen a surge in growth for his social media accounts as Pete Hegseth investigates him in an act of political retribution. Over 1.1 million new followers added since November 👇
- As Democrats try to make sense of a powerful right-wing media ecosystem, some progressives have turned to a creative solution: a book club to listen to conservative podcasts and YouTube shows 👇 www.chaoticera.news/p/meet-liber...
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- NEW: In 2024, right-wing donors gave over $260 million in tax-deductible contributions to nonprofit conservative media outlets. Recipients included orgs running "pink slime" sites and fake news pages on Facebook. Link to report in reply below 👇
- The most-viewed right-leaning personality on YouTube this year wasn’t Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, or Candace Owens; it was a guy named Zack Hoyt. More insights in my year-end YouTube roundup www.chaoticera.news/p/new-data-t...
- Both parties’ electoral coalitions consume their news and information in 1,000 different places and have to be reached in 1,000 different ways. Read my end-of-year interview with @theguardian.com on this ~chaotic~ political era: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
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- ❗️ To close out the year, I spoke with @theguardian.com on how the changing information ecosystem online is impacting our politics, and what it means for Democrats. 👇 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
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- ICYMI: Right-wing “dark money ATM” Donors Trust gave over $26 million to media efforts in 2024 👀
- 💡 NEW: 21 leading Democrats who are widely mentioned as possible 2028 presidential contenders sat down for more than 430 podcast interviews in 2025, according to @jesselehrich.bsky.social, who has listened to almost all of them...
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- Thanks for the recap, @beehiiv.com
- Trumpworld figures are trying to dislodge WinRed as the GOP's key fundraising platform. It matters because WinRed was set up specifically to help fund + share donor data with the party's data operation, The Data Trust.
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- 📉 NEW: The online political conversation in 2025 was ~chaotic~ as ever, but which topics and moments really broke through? I worked with the team at Resonate to analyze data from thousands of social media accounts across platforms. Read here: www.chaoticera.news/p/the-bigges...
- ICYMI, read this week's newsletter here: 🔗 www.chaoticera.news/p/liberal-me...
- NEW: It has been a big year for Democrats looking to solve their partisan media problem. 2025 has seen Democratic operatives pitch donors on more than a dozen new efforts, while established left-of-center outlets grew faster than ever. www.chaoticera.news/p/liberal-me...
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- "Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate..."That doesn't exist," OPM Director Scott Kupor told Reuters earlier this month when asked about DOGE's status." www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
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- “If this were to flip, that would say more about the state of the country than any other race possibly could,” says Justin Kanew of the @thetnholler.bsky.social. “People have a real chance to do something special here.” www.chaoticera.news/p/can-democr...
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- Newsom's online rise really took off around a key moment in early June, when he told the Trump administration to arrest him during a MSNBC hit. "I remember the moment that it happened," one progressive YouTuber told me. "I posted a video about it...and immediately it exploded."
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- NEW: Gavin Newsom is having a very good year, both online and off. From passing Prop 50 to his podcast success, influencer collabs, and viral social growth, the California Governor is giving grassroots Democrats what they want: style and substance. www.chaoticera.news/p/gavin-news...
- "Moulton turned against the group when it was unable to guarantee him an endorsement upon the launch of his Senate campaign, a source told JI" jewishinsider.com/2025/11/seth...
- Voters are heading to the polls in critical off-year elections, and we're in the midst of a historic government shutdown messaging war. So naturally, leading conservatives are battling over how much certain people on their side hate Jewish people. The MAGA civil war explained:
- Happy Election Day. Here's a chart showing Zohran Mamdani's explosive growth in online following in 2025 - from less than 60,000 followers at the start of the year to 7 million today.
- ⬆️ Tucker and Candace are rising 🏛️ Heritage is in crisis 😭 Mark Levin is sad ❌ Nick Fuentes is gloating ...and JD Vance is getting "the Groyper Squeeze." Here's an explainer on MAGA media's civil war: www.chaoticera.news/p/mamdani-s-...
- This week, Democratic operatives released competing hundred-page reports detailing what went wrong in 2024 and how to build a path out of the wilderness. www.chaoticera.news/p/here-s-exa...
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- A man in Tennessee has been in jail for over a month because he shared this meme on Facebook following Charlie Kirk’s death. Insanity.
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- Ballotpedia has always gone to great lengths to brand itself as “neutral,” “unbiased,” and “nonpartisan,” positioning its election data and candidate profiles as civic education for all Americans. But its funding history tells a much more complicated story.
- NEW: Since its founding, online elections encyclopedia Ballotpedia has received tens of millions of dollars from the most powerful donors on the Right. What’s their endgame? www.chaoticera.news/p/this-popul...
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- Watching cable news these days is starting to look a whole lot like YouTube. Wrote about it here 👇 www.chaoticera.news/p/youtube-is...
- (updated) 📉 New in Chaotic Era today: The fastest-growing political channels on YouTube in Q3. Rising on the Right 🔴⬆️: Candace Owens, Benny Johnson, Tucker Carlson Rising on the Left 🔵⬆️: More Perfect Union, Meidas, I've Had It, Keith Edwards Subscribe for the full report 👇
- NEW: Candace Owens added over 900,000 new YouTube subscribers last quarter, with more than 700k coming since Charlie Kirk's assassination. She has been a leading spreader of conspiracy theories about his death. www.chaoticera.news/p/new-data-h...
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- In the Garden State’s gubernatorial race next month, a milquetoast moderate faces off against a MAGA rising star. Could Democrats actually lose New Jersey? www.chaoticera.news/p/could-demo...
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- NEW: If the TikTok deal goes through and the app comes under American ownership, will Republican politicians finally join in large numbers? Currently, the top politics and news accounts on the platform are overwhelmingly left-leaning or non-partisan voices...
