Around 2:45am on Nov. 6, once it became clear that Donald Trump had the 2024 presidential election in the bag, Dana White took the stage at Mar-a-Lago to get the party started. The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s head honcho delivered half a minute of praise for Trump’s resilience, work ethic and other character traits that he very obviously doesn’t possess. Then White moved on to some shoutouts to “manosphere” entertainers in his inner circle that he considered integral to the former president’s reelection.

That list ended with “the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan,” because of course it did. But the very first people White thanked from the Mar-a-Lago stage last week, with the newly minted president-elect looking approvingly over his shoulder and the cameras beaming him around the world, were the Nelk Boys. The YouTube edgelords-turned-GOP darlings had made it to the inner sanctum.

And they brought their shockingly successful hard seltzer brand, Happy Dad, with them.

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I’ve been tracking the Nelk Boys’ ascent to MAGA royalty since March 2022, when Trump appeared on their podcast, “Full Send.” The episode would quickly become notorious when YouTube pulled it down for violating its guidelines about misinformation about the 2020 election, but what caught my eye was the 12-pack of Happy Dad hard seltzer placed conspicuously in frame. It’s not uncommon for influencers to try to leverage their online popularity by launching beverage-alcohol brands, but it’s a rare influencer that’s able to place their own flavored malt beverage on the elbow of the former president of the United States. I began looking into the relationship, filing an initial report that spring, and additional items ever since.

Now, two years removed from that first podcast episode, and just weeks removed from the 2024 election, I think it’s important to put it all together. At the nexus of the Nelk Boys, White and Trump are millions of Zyn-popping frat bros, heavily armed "Punisher"-misunderstanders and other........

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