A sign for next-gen journalism
22-year-old Gabe Fleisher is on Substack. In other news, Logan Paul interviewed former President Donald Trump, and Students for Justice in Palestine is launching its "summer school."
Every week now, there’s more and more content to consume about how young people are feeling and thinking ahead of November. The Up and Up is here to help you make sense of it all. If you have any questions or topics you’d like to see me cover more (or less) please don’t hesitate to reach out!
A sign for next-gen journalism
Gabe Fleisher, 22, started the explanatory Wake Up To Politics newsletter in 2011 when he was just 9-years-old. Since then, he’s racked up tens of thousands of subscribers from all over the country (and world), including at the highest levels of government. He's been everywhere from the White House press briefing room, to Camp David, and the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Fleisher just graduated from Georgetown University — and today he’s bringing Wake Up To Politics to Substack. You can subscribe here:
Earlier this week, I spoke with Fleisher about the future of his journalism. He said he views his newsletter as a place to break down the function and dysfunction of Washington, with no B.S., at a time when trust is at an all time low.
That lack of trust is part of why he decided to go independent, he said, as he hopes to grow his “personal” relationship with his readers and cultivate a next generation audience (including younger audiences who are exceptionally skeptical of traditional media).
In many ways, as a 2024 college graduate, Fleisher is emblematic of next-gen journalism. His decision also speaks to the lure of independent journalism, and the mental gymnastics young journalists go through when thinking about how to best pursue their dreams given the state of the industry (he said he consulted many friends in the industry, media vets, and journalism professors before deciding the independent path was the way to go).
Asked about independent journalists he looks up to, Fleisher listed Substack writers of , of Silver Bulletin, as well as Isaac Saul of Tangle News.
Building trust: Leaning into personality, away from corporate ties
In general, Fleisher described newsletters as one of the “great ways for the media industry to build trust” in the age of AI, adding that “independent outlets, which people know are humans, who they trust and know their voice, are going to be very important.” He also recognizes that (for better or for worse), younger audiences are craving individual personalities.
“The number of young audiences that are getting their news from mainstream outlets is dropping. People are very comfortable getting their news from independent sources, clearly from sources on social media — TikTok — but also newsletters,” Fleisher said. “I think young voters are looking for authenticity in the reporting, and for better or for worse, to be clear… young people are looking for people they can have personal connections with.”
Beyond looking to individual personalities “for the comfort of it,” Fleisher said he believes his peers are looking for journalists without ties to corporations: “Young people may be looking for voices that aren’t as big and maybe aren’t as established and entrenched, looking for newer places that aren’t owned by larger corporations.”
Specifically, he’s heard from friends who are skeptical of advertising banners at the top of newsletters. This is something I’ve heard from young people across the country, too.
On input from friends, he said they’ve mentioned: “It's kind of weird that like, right at the top of the morning newsletter, it's like, ‘sponsored by’ some company they reported on. I hear that from young readers a lot, who note that about that kind of advertising.”
‘A young person, writing about young people’
To be clear, so far, Fleisher has made a concerted effort to not lean into his age. But while he tries not to make sweeping generalizations about an entire generation, he recognizes that some readers appreciate his proximity to the issues when writing about young voters.
“I've always been kind of uncomfortable writing about Gen Z and going too far to write about that,” Fleisher said. “But then I do hear it's important, because I’m always trying to clear up misconceptions, and when there's conventional wisdom narratives that are kind of going awry, people look to me as kind of a voice — I'm trying to look at the data. I think that's the case, especially with young voters.”
“I've heard a lot from others, appreciating a young person, writing about young people,” he said.
While being young and writing about young people doesn’t “necessarily give him more credibility,” Fleisher said he recognizes that mainstream coverage of young voters often focuses on niche groups rather than mainstream sentiment.
He honed in on a point I’ve focused on here at The Up and Up:
“You hear from a lot of older people wondering what young people are thinking,” Fleisher said. “I do feel my position as a young adult has allowed me to break through some of those narratives and talk more frankly people about what young voters are actually focusing on.”
In other news… Trump to headline Turning Point Action convention in Detroit
The conservative Turning Point USA’s Turning Point Action affiliate is hosting its convention in Detroit, Michigan this weekend. Titled ‘The People’s Convention,’ according to its website, the event will feature a chock-full line up of speakers including former President Donald Trump.
The group’s website lists other speakers such as TPUSA founder and activist Charlie Kirk, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump Jr., former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and quite a few other big-name Republicans (including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene).
In related news, Trump posted his second TikTok yesterday with wrestler/influencer Logan Paul. (Logan Paul’s brother, Jake, posted on TikTok with Vivek Ramaswamy and X with RFK Jr. earlier in the cycle.)
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The Trump TikTok comes after Paul interviewed the former president for his ‘IMPUALSIVE’ podcast. The podcast’s YouTube channel has 4.62 million subscribers. The podcast episode is said to be dropping later today, but a clip was posted to Instagram last night.
Though Paul’s fans seem to be having mixed reactions to his decision to feature the former president and “convicted felon waiting sentencing” (as one follower on Instagram pointed out), there’s no denying that the star has a massive audience who Trump will reach with the interview.
In a clip of the interview with Trump posted on X, Paul said he’d “like to extend the invite to [President] Joe Biden if he’d like to come on this podcast eventually,” as well.
Continued organizing from Students for Justice in Palestine
The National Students for Justice in Palestine organization — the group behind many of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses this year — posted on Instagram yesterday about what the group is calling its “summer school.” According to the post, the group is hosting “online political education & skill building” this summer.
The caption with the post reads: “In the aftermath of the most impactful years of Palestine student organizing in decades, National Students for Justice in Palestine invites student organizers and movement partners to deepen our understanding of our current political moment and develop our organizational and leadership skills, with the aim of entrenching the frameworks necessary to sustain and grow the Student Intifada in the coming academic year.”
Youth vote in the news 🗞
Young men and women are diverging politically. That could shape the 2024 election., Ron Brownstein for CNN, 6/11 (featuring insights from )
Democrats fractured over views of pro-Palestinian campus protests, poll finds, Jared Mitovich, Isabella Ramirez, and Juan Perez Jr. for POLITICO, 6/11
Democratic efforts to lure young voters include beer and birth control, Michael Scherer for The Washington Post, 6/11