The most influential political and cultural debates are no longer happening on cable news—they’re unfolding in real-time on podcasts, where audiences get hours of unfiltered discussion, often without challenge.
This week in the ‘manoverse’, the term coined for the loose network of right-leaning, hyper-masculine digital platforms, highlighted just how much control podcasts wield over the national conversation.
Joe Rogan boosted more conspiracy theories, Candance Owens and Theo Von blurred the line between fact and fiction, Tucker Carlson fueled fears about South Africa, and California Governor Gavin Newsom effectively broke with the left wing of his party in his debut on the scene.
Here were some of the biggest moments this week.
Newsom Thought He Could Win in the Manoverse
Gavin Newsom walked into the lion’s den—and left bruised.
On his newly launched podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom, the governor attempted to engage with a conservative-leaning audience that the Democratic party has struggled to reach: young men.
To prove he could debate on their turf, he invited Charlie Kirk, a leading voice in right-wing youth politics. But instead of winning over Kirk’s huge audience, Newsom spent most of the episode on defense.
“Democrats took young people for granted,” Kirk said. “Trump tapped into this by using podcasts and TikTok. We moved the youth vote 13 points in four years.”
Newsom, admitting his teenage son is a follower of Kirk’s content, realized the problem.
“I should be concerned, right?” he asked.
Kirk didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
NEW: California Governor Gavin Newsom tells Charlie Kirk that his son is a massive Charlie Kirk fan.
Newsom: My son really wanted to meet you.
Kirk: You let him to take off school?
Newsom: No. Of course not. He’s not here for a good reason.
Kirk: Well you cancelled school… pic.twitter.com/Bh21YArY36
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 6, 2025
The discussion turned into an autopsy on why young men are rejecting progressive politics.
“Young men are the most depressed, suicidal, and medicated generation in history,” Kirk claimed. “The left tells them to accept that. Of course they rebelled.”
When the conversation shifted to trans athletes in women’s sports, Kirk seized the moment.
“You guys handed us an 80/20 issue with trans athletes in women’s sports,” he said. “It’s an affront to fairness.”
To the shock of many, Newsom agreed.
“On fairness, I completely agree with you,” he admitted.
Then came the knockout punch.
“Governor, last week, every Democrat in the U.S. Senate voted against banning men from women’s sports. You have to know how bad that looks.”
Newsom exhaled. “I know. We’re getting crushed on this.”
While Newsom was given plaudits by many for being one of the few elected Democrats to invite debate with their opposition, his conversation with Kirk also confirmed what the influecer had been saying all along: Democrats are losing young men, and they don’t know how to get them back.
Joe Rogan’s Podcast: Epstein and Nixon
Meanwhile, Joe Rogan, the most powerful voice in podcasting, took his audience deep into conspiracy territory with guest Ian Carroll, an independent researcher known for pushing conspiracy and antisemitic theories.
“Epstein wasn’t just some sick millionaire—he was an employee of organized crime working for the CIA, Mossad, and British intelligence,” Carroll claimed.
Rogan amplified the theory.
Screengrab Joe Rogan
“Dude, this guy had everyone. Billionaires, scientists, presidents. You don’t get that level of access just by being a rich creep,” Rogan said.
Carroll then claimed Epstein was an Israeli intelligence operative, running blackmail operations on Americans.
“It was intelligence gathering targeting Americans,” Carroll insisted.
Rogan didn’t challenge, asking, “So he was running ops?”
While Epstein’s connections to powerful figures remain a subject of scrutiny, there is yet to be any concrete evidence presented that he was a government asset—a critical piece of missing context in a conversation heard by millions of listeners.
The conversation then veered into another favorite topic in conspiracy circles: the JFK assassination.
Carroll floated a theory that Richard Nixon was forced out of office not because of Watergate, but because “he knew who killed JFK.”
Rogan jumped in with an endorsement of the idea:
“Tucker Carlson says Nixon was silenced. And Gerald Ford—who was on the Warren Commission—just happens to become president? That’s crazy!”
But historical evidence overwhelmingly contradicts this claim. Nixon’s resignation was a direct result of the Watergate scandal, and no credible link exists between him and secret knowledge of JFK’s assassination.
Candace Owens
On Theo Von’s popular podcast, This Past Weekend, conservative firebrand Candace Owens also weighed in, unchecked, on the Epstein conspiracies—this time bringing Israel and U.S. media control into the mix.
Like Carroll, Owens floated the idea that Epstein was an intelligence operative.
“Epstein wasn’t just some sick millionaire—he was an employee of organized crime working for the CIA, Mossad, and British intelligence,” she said.
Then Owens pivoted to U.S. foreign policy and Israeli influence.
Screengrab Theo Von
“They’re the only country allowed to lobby our government without registering under FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act]. JFK tried to stop that—then he got shot.”
But this is misleading. While AIPAC is a powerful lobbying group, it operates under the same laws as other foreign-affiliated organizations. The claim that JFK was assassinated for opposing Israeli influence remains baseless.
She also revived a bizarre conspiracy theory about Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron.
“I gave Macron 21 yes-or-no questions. He refused to answer,” Owens claimed, implying Macron’s wife was secretly born male.
Von asked why it mattered.
“If she’s running on a Catholic, conservative image, then people should know the truth,” Owens insisted.
There is no credible evidence supporting the claim that Brigitte Macron is transgender.
Tucker Carlson on South Africa
On his own platform, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson turned his attention to South Africa, interviewing South African journalist Ernst Roets about land reform and racial tensions.
“For most Americans, news about South Africa ended in 1994,” Carlson said. “The government is genocidally racist.”
Roets backed him up, claiming the ANC’s land reform policies were not about economic fairness, but about using democracy to push a socialist agenda. The ANC [African National Congress] is the party that has governed South Africa since 1994
Screengrab Tucker Carlson
Carlson then moved to violence against white farmers, a topic that has been heavily featured lately in far-right circles. The topic has been amplified on social and mainstream media by billionaire Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa.
“The government has signed an expropriation bill allowing it to confiscate land without compensation.”
Roets confirmed: “They now say 80% of land must be owned by Black people.”
Carlson then asked about white farmers being targeted.
“Political parties chant ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ in stadiums,” Roets said. “Our research shows farm attacks increase after these public incitements.”
While farm attacks are a serious issue in South Africa, there is no evidence of a government-sponsored campaign to target white farmers. Many experts have repeatedly debunked the “white genocide” narrative.
In conversations on X, heavy criticism is being leveled against Rogan, Von and Carlson for these recent guests. The venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, who counts more than 200,000 followers on the platform, accused them of pushing “slanderous conspiracies and blood libel” against Jews into the mainstream.
