The Movement: Friction among conservative media grows as Trump’s approval falls

President Trump came to power in 2016 and again in 2024 on a wave of conservative media backing, as right-wing podcast, radio and TV hosts built brands off supporting him and his movement.

As the president’s approval wanes with voters, many of those same voices have become more willing to call balls and strikes — and others in the conservative media ecosystem are becoming quicker to push back at the critics.

Online, that friction has sparked up in recent months over issues as different as childcare subsidies for stay-at-home parents and the price of a steak burrito. 

The diverging camps within the media coalition that once rallied behind Trump highlight the divisions emerging across the conservative movement on a number of hot-button issues — just as the race for Trump’s successor gets going. 

Erick Erickson, a conservative radio host and commentator who had been a Trump critic but then endorsed him in 2020 and 2024, told The Hill that he’s noticed he gets more backlash when he speaks against the Trump administration’s moves than he used to.

“As the president is headed more into lame-duck status, and we are on the verge of the midterms. There is more, I would say, I would call it bullying, almost to try to get people to shut up or toe the line,” Erickson said. “It’s a much more intense, organized effort, and ironically, it is by the groups in D.C. that used to be the people on the outside who would cajole what was at the time the establishment … they’ve kind of become the establishment.” 

Erickson mentioned those in Washington close to Vice President Vance, as well the Heritage Foundation and the Conservative Partnership Institute, closely linked conservative heavy hitters in D.C., as part of the crackdown. 

“Anyone in Washington who is kind of hitching their wagon now to the Vance campaign are the most aggressive at pushing back on any sort of criticism,” he said.

Douglas Blair, spokesperson for Heritage Action for America, said the group encourages “rigorous, substantive debate among conservatives about the future of our country.”

“We won’t always agree on policy, but we know solutions can only come from the right because the left has become so out of step with average Americans. We will iron out our disagreements, and the best answers will inevitably emerge,” he said.

The rise in right-wing voices willing to speak their minds is not necessarily without precedent for this point in an election cycle. Erickson said that while some commentators have started speaking out more, others, like Ben Shapiro and Dana Loesch, have been doing so this whole time and are now getting more buzz.

“There is this moment in every administration in the last two years, where voices that were once quiet speak up until the next leader is chosen, and they get quiet again and try to be on the team,” Erickson said. “But I mean, you’ve seen pretty consistently a Dana Loesch, a Ben Shapiro, people like that willing to stand up and just, I mean, speak their mind on issues they........

© The Hill