Hello and welcome to another edition of Doomscroll, your favorite newsletter covering all things digital on the right! If you’re reading this instead of watching Kendrick Lamar, well, bravo. You’ve got your priorities straight. I like it. Now let’s get to some doomscrolling!
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about who you’d like to see in the New Media seat in the White House briefing room. And by everyone, I mean all 4 of you. I’ll be honest, friends: this was probably the least-answered One Question in the history of Doomscroll. I’m just going to chalk it up to the fact that you all, like me, are of a certain age and even though we live and breathe digital, we’re not necessarily up on the new media personalities? Could you hear my voice get high and pitchy at the end there? Cool. It’s either that or you all just thought it was a dumb question, in which case YOU ARE PROBABLY RIGHT. I shall do better.
This week’s One Question is this: Do you plan on adding LinkedIn and/or Threads to your social media mix this year? Hear me out. According to the latest data from Buffer, Threads is actually driving more engagement than X right now and Meta clearly wants us to use it. And LinkedIn? It seems like a day doesn’t go by that I don’t see something about how the site is leaning into being more like another social media platform and NOT just a place to find a job. Sure it may still be more of a “niche” platform, but it’s definitely evolving and presents a good opportunity for candidates to reach a different kind of audience.
So: Threads and LinkedIn? Yay or nay?
One Quote
One Thought
Politico had a banger of a week, huh? Ok so you might be thinking: “This isn’t digital!” Well, this Politico-USAID story played out pretty much entirely on X, so I’m considering it 100% a digital topic worth covering. Plus, I have opinions. Maybe the government didn’t subsidize Politico. Maybe the “right” got it a bit wrong. I’d be willing to stipulate that Politico wasn’t getting subsidized but was, instead, being paid for totally legit Politico Pro subscriptions. But can we still be irritated about it? Uh, yeah! Here’s why: Maybe if a publication reports on an entity that in turn, uses taxpayer dollars to pay said publication a large sum of money to subscribe to its product, it warrants a few raised eyebrows. I’m certainly not going to apologize for questioning this financial arrangement, and I don’t think anyone else should have to, either.
Just a thought!
Who’s Doing What
—GunTube is a thing
The New York Times profiled some prominent “guntubers” this week. I always love it when the mainstream media writes about gun owners like they’re some kind of exotic breed, but this piece is pretty good and if you didn’t know “GunTube” existed, well, you do now! #newaudience
Here’s a snippet:
A new generation of American gun owners who are younger, more racially diverse and drawn to tactical training and self-defense are regularly watching firearms channels. The content has garnered more than 29 billion views on YouTube, according to unpublished data from researchers at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. It has made for a growing subculture commonly referred to as guntube, with creators known as guntubers.
—MAHA Pressure
A group called MAHA Action is running Facebook and Instagram ads to support RFK Jr’s nomination. The ads, which are all vertical videos, specifically target Sens. John Fetterman, Bernie Sanders, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Cory Booker, and Mitch McConnell. Each contains a call-to-action for viewers to contact their senator and urge him/her to make America healthy again. The buy is pretty small - the group spent just under $7,000 in the last week.
Who’s Spending Where
P2P
This week’s P2P shout-out goes to Georgians First Leadership Committee. The “subject line” of the text copy is great, and I like how the message ties politics and the Super Bowl together. Well done! (Also, fwiw, not every incumbent can pull off a beer-drinking selfie, but it works for Gov. Kemp!).
Industry Watch
Some quick hits:
⚖️ Elon Musk is suing more companies, accusing them of an advertising boycott. Read more here.
📹 LinkedIn video uploads have jumped 36%. Alright, alright, alright. Read more here.
📉 A new report finds that when AI Overviews on Google search results are present, CTR’s on search ads go way down… See the report here.
2025-2026 Watch
Some people are trying to convince Casey DeSantis to run for governor. Read more here.
Is Mark Sanford going to run for governor again? Maybe?
Sen. Lindsey Graham has his first primary challenger: businessman Mark Lynch.
SC State Sen. Josh Kimbrell is reportedly mulling a run for governor as well.
And then there’s Thomas Ravenel…Pass the popcorn, please.
(Sidenote: I swear I didn’t purposely seek out SC news this week… somehow it just finds me!)
In something non South Carolina-related, the Cook Political report released its 2026 House ratings. Take a look.
The Grapevine
StackAdapt is hiring an Account Executive for its political team. Posting is here.
Politicoin is hiring a President of Digital Strategy and Operations. See their posting here.
The New York Sun is looking for a Vice President of Growth. See here.
Alex Bruesewitz and his firm, X Strategies LLC, are going to be playing a big role in Trump’s new leadership PAC, Never Surrender. Read more here.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
The New York Times did a write-up this week about how House Majority PAC is creating a new $50 million fund to reach out to the “working class.” Raise your hand if you still can’t believe the Democratic Party needs $50 million to talk to working class Americans. But I digress. Here’s more:
“We’re laying a marker down now,” Mike Smith, the president of the group, the House Majority PAC, said in an interview. “This is a priority.”
The group is calling the new investment its “Win Them Back Fund,” and it comes two years after the super PAC began the 2024 election cycle with specific funds for House seats in New York and California.
But Mr. Smith described the 2026 fund as fundamentally different. It is not focused on a specific geographic cluster of competitive seats but rather on appealing to a demographic cohort of working-class voters — white, Black, Hispanic and Asian — who all across the country drifted away from the party in 2024.
From the other side of the tracks:
Let’s go back in time, shall we? Remember when Oreo won the Super Bowl in 2013 by tweeting during a 34 minute-long blackout? The people loved it, and every other social media manager was jealous AF. To be fair, it was pretty genius and remains a great example of what’s possible when you’re prepared to capitalize on a cultural moment.
In the political world, we’re not immune. We attempt to do this all the time (I guarantee you there are about 1 million young staffers poised and ready at their keyboards RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE hoping a Super Bowl themed tweet goes viral). But it’s worth pausing to think about what made the Oreo tweet so successful, and what we can learn from it as digital operatives who are trying to win elections.
It was funny. It was unexpected. It was simple.
If you’re responsible for running a social media account and think you have a good opportunity to tweet something “in the moment,” see if it checks those three boxes. If it’s not entertaining, don’t bother. If it lacks the element of surprise, pass. If it’s over-produced or over-thought, just step away from the keyboard.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!