Is the laughter dying at the right-wing Daily Wire?

Today, Devin Leonard takes a close look at the Daily Wire, the conservative media outfit that greased the path for Trump to return to the White House. The podcast publisher should be riding high with its man back in power, but its audience has fallen off a cliff.

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When the Daily Wire, the conservative media company best known as the home of podcaster Ben Shapiro, started selling razors in 2022, it made sure everybody knew by releasing what it described as "the Greatest Commercial Ever." The ad featured Jeremy Boreing, then the Daily Wire's co-chief executive officer, strutting through the company's Nashville headquarters in a Gucci track suit, accompanied by two statuesque, cleavage-baring models. He ranted about how the big shaving brands had embraced leftist gender ideology before turning a flamethrower on their products. "If you've had enough of the woke bulls---, and you're tired of paying companies like Harry's and Gillette to hate you," Boreing snarled at the camera, "then buy my new razor instead."

The instantly viral Jeremy's Razors spot was followed last year by another the Daily Wire billed as "the 2nd Greatest Commercial Ever." This time Boreing's character was dismayed to find that he was being replaced as the product's spokesman by a Black doppelgänger, played by actor and conservative activist Siaka Massaquoi, in a bid to appeal to liberal White women making family purchasing decisions.

Matt Walsh and Boreing onstage at the Daily Wire Presents Backstage Live in 2024. Photographer: Jason Davis/Getty Images

Whether you were amused or appalled—or perhaps a bit of both—these ads possessed an undeniable right-wing comedic bite and racked up millions of views. So it was something of a surprise this month when the Daily Wire released its latest Jeremy's Razors commercial, "It's Time You Shave Like a Legend." The new ad makes no claims of greatness. Boreing is conspicuously absent, having stepped down in March for an advisory role at the company. In his place is singer Trey Warner, a Will Farrell lookalike who portrays a sort of Yeti character grousing in his cave about having been dubbed "abominable" for misgendering someone at the gym.

A Daily Wire spokesperson says that Boreing—writer of the first two commercials, according to IMBD—lent his "creative firepower" to the new one. But it's difficult to see his handiwork in the spot, which appears to have fallen flat, attracting only around 23,000 views so far on YouTube and several comments pleading for the return of Boreing and his antagonistic persona.

It was one thing for the Daily Wire, which has also branched out into moviemaking and selling candles and cigars, to depict conservatives as culture war victims during Joe Biden's presidency. But with Donald Trump back in the White House, its positions have essentially become US policy, championed not just by the president himself but by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and any number of Republican congressional leaders.

The Daily Wire helped ease the way for Trump's return, with projects like the 2024 movie Am I Racist?, in which another of its leading podcasters, Matt Walsh, put his hair up in a man bun and punked practitioners of diversity, equity and inclusion. But it's harder for the company to provoke and get a laugh when its messages are now mainstream.

Tara Murphy, president of the Daily Wire's consumer products group, doesn't see things quite that way. "Yes, President Trump has scored major victories, but the left clearly hasn't learned a thing since November," she wrote in an email. "This next generation Jeremy's campaign is staying true to its roots—taking the fight directly to the woke ideology still central to the Left ideology."

The Daily Wire says it sold $15 million worth of razors in 2024. (By contrast, Gillette's net sales of grooming supplies, including razors for men and women and other shaving-related products, were $6.6 billion last year.) But its anti-woke message appears to have lost some of its salience since Trump's reelection. Two years ago, Bloomberg Businessweek published a lengthy feature story about the Daily Wire, noting that in March 2023 it was the sixth-largest US podcast publisher with a monthly audience of 9.4 million, according to Podtrac. Last month it was No. 12, with an audience of about 4.1 million, a steep decline in a time when the right is having a prolonged cultural moment.

The company attributes this to increased competition in its ideological domain. "It's no secret that the conservative media space has become more saturated; that is a fact," a Daily Wire spokesperson writes in an email. "We are second only to Fox News in the conservative space on that list, that's pretty good company if you ask me." Maybe so, but the Daily Wire had 4 million more unique users than the Fox Audio Network in March 2023, according to Podtrac.

Fortunately perhaps for the Daily Wire, Trump can't run a fourth time, no matter what he says about making an end run around the Constitution. That raises the possibility of the Democratic Party retaking the White House and maybe even a leader from the progressive left occupying the Oval Office. The Daily Wire's talent would undoubtedly treat this in public as an extinction-level event. In private, however, they might have to admit it would be great for business.

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Vladimir Kirienko, VK's CEO, is the son of a powerful Putin aide. Photographer: Vladimir Astapkovich/AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin is closer than ever to getting the internet he wants. In July the Kremlin announced it had chosen VK Co., a government-controlled social networking company, to be Russia's national messaging service. The result is Max, a sprawling app billed as a way for users to communicate, manage their finances, access government services and even skip the lines at music festivals. On July 16, Putin also ordered the government to develop new restrictions on software and communication services from countries it considers unfriendly. Two days later, Anton Gorelkin, first deputy chairman of the State Duma's IT committee, said Meta Platforms Inc.'s WhatsApp, the most popular online destination in Russia, is "very likely" to be among the targets.

In recent years, Russia, along with other countries, has become increasingly interested in so-called digital sovereignty, the idea of a country breaking its reliance on foreign-owned technology companies and infrastructure. For Putin the endgame looks like the internet in China, where all online experience is mediated through what are known as everything apps—and the government has wide leverage to surveil and control online activity. Spokespeople for the Kremlin and VK didn't respond to requests for comment.

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Cox. Photographer: Mihaela Bodlovic

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Commissioned to write the play by a trio of Scottish arts organizations, including the National Theatre, Graham spoke to Cox early in the process. The 79-year-old Succession star was eager to return to the stage in his native Scotland, and Graham was a longtime fan. But his initial reaction was "Oh, that sounds like a terrible idea, Brian."

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