One of the ugliest things I’ve learned after a year or so in politics and having a platform is that a lot of people don’t own their audience. Their audience owns them. I’ve built a decent-sized platform, met some incredible and influential people, spoken at events, sat on panels, done some debates, and gotten a much closer look at how this entire industry actually works on the surface (how people at home see it) and behind the scenes. Audience capture is VERY real. You build a following because people agree with you on a bunch of issues. Then you figure out which opinions get the most clicks, which posts and videos will make the most money, and which takes get applause from your followers. Eventually, there’s an incentive to keep saying the same things, appeasing the same people, and never challenge your own audience or yourself. Trust me, there is a LOT of money in politics, including among people who market themselves as completely “independent.” Money, access, attention, clicks, views. All of it creates pressure, especially on people like myself who are young. One thing I’ve tried to pride myself on, and something I’m going to continue to hold myself to, is that nobody controls my mouth. Nobody is ever going to pay me to say something I don’t believe or wouldn’t say for free. I’m not going to pretend something is true because I’m scared the people following me might turn on me if I say otherwise. That includes people on the right. I think there are a lot of incredibly stupid ideas gaining traction on the right right now. There are plenty on the left too. I have serious disagreements with both, and I’m not going to grade nonsense on a curve because it comes from “my side.” I’m not a politician. I’m not a strategist. I’m not running or coordinating public messaging for campaigns. X makes this problem even worse. This app outright rewards outrage, certainty, tribalism, and increasingly unserious people saying increasingly unserious things. American political discourse is becoming overwhelmingly unserious, and I have real problems with some of what I’m seeing inside the conservative movement right now. There is absolutely pressure, especially when you build a platform young, to just keep feeding people whatever keeps the numbers going up. An audience of 1.5million followers across platforms is something I am blessed to have and is not something I take lightly. However, if keeping an audience requires me to violate my principles, lose intellectual honesty, or shut my mouth when I think people are wrong, then I’d rather lose my audience. I’m not interested in being owned by the crowd I built. It won’t happen.