MAGA Celebrates Michelle Obama’s Podcast Debuting to Abysmal Numbers: ‘Were You One of the 25K That Listened?’
Right-wing influencers on X celebrated this week as former First Lady Michelle Obama’s new podcast debuted to disappointing numbers on YouTube.
Mrs. Obama and her bother Craig Robinson announced the launch of a video podcast Monday, promising weekly episodes, and dropped two episodes to kickstart the new venture.
IMO (short for “In My Opinion”) podcast uploaded two episodes Wednesday morning that attracted 47,000 and 15,000 views – with total viewership in 24 hours on YouTube reaching just 62,000.
The two episodes touch on subjects including divorce and other aspects of their personal lives. How the episodes performed on other platforms such as Spotify and Apple was not immediately clear.
But the disappointing launch on YouTube sent much of the right into a celebratory mood. Joe Rogan, who is viewed on the right as the podcasting standard-bearer, dropped an interview late Wednesday with venture capitalist Jacques Vallee that quickly racked up nearly 800,000 views.
Rogan’s interviews with Bill Murray, Elon Musk, and Woody Harrelson in recent weeks saw viewership ranging from 3.5 million to 12 million.
With Mrs. Obama’s podcast failing to hit those kinds of numbers after its launch, MAGA influencers circled the wagons, and many declared the venture a failure.
Obama and Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom both dropped podcasts this past week following calls for Democrats to reach voters through new mediums following the 2024 election.
A week before the November election, then-candidate Donald Trump traveled to Texas for a three-hour sit-down with Rogan. While the podcaster later claimed Kamala Harris was invited on his show, the ultimately did not appear on the podcast.
Obama’s podcast debuted amid complaints from some Democrats that their party had surrendered podcasts that are popular among men over to the right – and to their detriment.
The party struggled with men of all ethnicities last November, leading to calls for reform on how Democrats package their messaging.
Newsom, for example, launched his media venture by sitting down with guests like Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon, and Michael Savage.
