Alex Bruesewitz is the President’s celebrity whisperer. He has brought the likes of YouTube personality Jake Paul and rapper Nicki Minaj into the MAGA fold. He is also the director of a social media empire with 50 million followers, which includes such X accounts as @TrumpWarRoom and @TeamTrump. Bruesewitz is an influencer, both online and in the corridors of the White House.
A sense of loyalty to Donald Trump is what motivates him. It started when Bruesewitz was a teenager in Wisconsin. In 2015, he posted a picture of the Trump Tower in Chicago, saying the sign would look good over the White House. Trump retweeted him. So began his life as an online crusader for MAGA. “I grew up in a town of 7,000 people and saw many of my friends’ parents lose their jobs in factories and on farms,” he tells me. “Then Trump said: ‘I’m going to bring those jobs back. I’m going to give the forgotten men and women a voice.’ And that resonated with me.”
Too many online operatives have less than honest motives, he says. Influencers and politicians are secretly being paid by foreign countries via lobbyists. Congress is now clarifying what might constitute a criminal breach of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. “I’ve seen countries use right-wing influencers to advocate for tariff relief, and on the Democrat side you see influencers showing sympathy to dictators or communist countries,” he says.
TikTok is the social media platform where the next generation of voters spends its time
When Mike Pompeo wrote on X that Trump’s rumored deal with Iran was “not remotely America first,” Bruesewitz asked him outright if he was being paid by anyone to oppose peace. The former Secretary of State never responded. “Mike is quite close with a few different groups who probably do not want to see the Iran war come to an end,” Bruesewitz said. In November, Pompeo addressed a meeting of Mojahedin-e-Khalq, an eccentric group of Iranian exiles that some have likened to a cult. Many speakers at the Washington summit were paid handsomely for their participation, although there is no evidence to suggest Pompeo is being paid to argue for the continuation of the war.
Minaj, Bruesewitz says, can’t be bought. He is responsible for bringing the rapper into MAGA-world after the pair bonded over the plight of Christians in Nigeria. Minaj was impressed by Trump’s military strikes on ISIS militants, and Bruesewitz coaxed her into open support for the President. As a result, she agreed to help launch Trump Accounts – tax-free investment accounts for children – and described herself as the Donald’s “number one fan.”
Bruesewitz is the social media guru the Democrats – the unofficial party of the entertainment industry – secretly wish they had. Bruesewitz has a rolodex of superstars, is fluent in online language and memes, and boasts the empire-building skills of a Hollywood impresario. “I have an ability to meet people,” he says. “I oftentimes get introduced to high-profile celebrities, athletes or creators through mutual friends. For some reason, people like me – and some people really don’t like me, which is also fun.” While Bruesewitz was helping Trump crack the manosphere in 2024 by lining up interviews with the likes of Joe Rogan, the Democrats were paying Oprah Winfrey $1 million for a forgettable interview and creating the flaccid “White Dudes for Harris” movement.
Bruesewitz refuses to take the credit for his success. “I like to say I’m a social media genius, but the President is a social media cheat code. You put his face, name, image, anything on it, it’s going to do numbers.” He also credits his “small but mighty” team of 12, which runs the President’s outside social media efforts. Together, they have built a formidable operation. Last year, they clocked up 5.3 billion views across all social media platforms and gained 13 million followers.
“Republicans have an advantage on social media because our staff are cooler than the Democrat staff and also our candidates are cooler than the Democratic candidates,” he says. “The President does well on TikTok because he is culturally relevant and culturally cool; his opponents are not. TikTok is a majorly important platform for reaching swing voters – those more undecided voters, the younger voters.” The figures he cites are dizzying. On TikTok alone the @TeamTrump account has 13.6 million followers and more than 360 million likes. But is it all just foam and no beer? A very noisy echo chamber? Perhaps not. The average user is younger than 34. TikTok is the social media platform where the next generation of voters spends its time.
Bruesewitz worked on Trump’s 2024 election campaign. He was offered a mid-level job as the White House’s new-media director but decided not to take it, instead returning to his consultancy, X Strategies.
“My team came from the Hill or were people I saw on social media who made good content and ran anonymous social media accounts. I reached out to them and I found out what they did for work. Some of these people were bagging groceries. I brought them on and now they help run some of the most powerful social media accounts in the country.” His team of viral scrappers shun publicity and don’t advertise the location of their office due to the number of threats they receive, he says.
Bruesewitz has a reputation as a hard charger on social media – he has mocked Ron DeSantis’s heeled cowboy boots, called Cardi B a “misguided young woman” and labeled Ted Cruz a “clown” – but he says his aggressive tone has been calmed by his Christianity. “I have to repent after I call somebody a mean name. I’m actually much nicer on social media than I used to be, believe it or not. My Christian faith is very important to me and I try to practice what I preach. I’ve been accused of being a Christian nationalist by Democrats. And what I say is, ‘yeah, I’m a Christian who loves their nation. Is that a bad thing?’ I think Christian nationalism made America great. I think that America’s greatness stems from its founding that is deeply connected to our belief in God and Christianity.”
Bruesewitz is still just 29. In March next year he turns 30, which means he could qualify to serve as a senator. He says he has “flirted” with standing for Congress but wants “something with a little more authority.” Could a Senate run be on the cards? “We’ll see what happens.”
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