Posted on 05/09/2026 2:30:01 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The Daily Wire was once ascendant in right-wing media. Now, the “anti-woke” company faces contentious layoffs, ideological battles and dwindling relevance online.
The conservative media company Daily Wire was once a star of the MAGA digital universe, dominating social media feeds and podcast apps with a blend of “anti-woke” commentary, viral Facebook posts and culture-war stunts.
In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, the company co-founded by conservative pundit Ben Shapiro ranked as Facebook’s top English-language publisher for three straight months. Its sarcastic news items on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s salon visits gained millions more views than the websites of Fox News, CNN and the New York Times.
But the company now faces sweeping layoffs and heavy skepticism over its online future, with some critics — including former employees, such as Candace Owens — arguing its relevance to the right has irrevocably collapsed.
Its YouTube channel’s subscriber base has plateaued or shrunk in 15 of the 16 months since the start of 2025, according to data from the analytics firm Social Blade. And in an analysis of 20 conservative news sites, the Daily Wire has consistently ranked among the biggest year-over-year traffic losers since last summer, according to estimates from the market intelligence firm Similarweb that were compiled by the media newsletter TheRighting. In March, the website’s traffic was half of what it was the year before.
The Daily Wire’s fall from grace reflects the fragmentation of partisan media online, as centralized institutions such as Breitbart and Fox lose attention to a scattered network of podcasters, streamers and provocateurs.
Though it advertises itself as “America’s leading voice of the counter-culture movement,” the Daily Wire now draws criticism that it mirrors the mainstream media giants it once pledged to...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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Amen to that. It’s like take a breath, dude.
I can deal with a few clips on YouTube but basically anything more than that is really boring.
I have the same problem with most podcasters/youtubers , they really don’t have the same talent as older radio show hosts who understood how to keep their show moving along.
Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin support those who support Israel first.
The woman [who started out with TDS] with the “Killer Bs” has jumped the shark.
You have no idea what I think. I posted an article I found informative. Instantly you project your own inadequcies upon it.
I got my fill of little Benny when he was a big cheese a BB.
Never Trumpers like a leopard don’t change their spots.
That goes for the bearded one as well.
This was the comment I made that you replied to: "Another controlled-opposition puppet bites the dust."
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4378521/posts?page=1#1
Does that sound like I "always rely on the commies at the WaPo to inform" me?
Can you even read?
Ok Ivan.
Compost pile.
Sad to see so many on this thread jump in and write off Shaprio. He and Megan Kelly has a little spat going and he prolly said some things to her he shouldn’t have (calling her anti-semetic) but the left is happy to drive the wedge and destroy the very few voices the right has at the moment.
“how much he is willing to subordinate the interests of Americans for Israel”
Horseshit. If anything, it is the OTHER WAY AROUND. And has been since 1948.
Meghan has started going pro-Muslim now. She’s noticed there are Muslim “clicks” for sale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ypBgEht1sg
Of course, a lot of folks have decided it is OK to hate Jews and to hate the one democracy in the Middle East.
He was a charter member of the anti-Trump club.
Never forget.
U.S. Debt to GDP is over 120%.
Israel's Debt to GDP is under 70%.
Tell me why you think Americans, being aware they are currently ~$113,000 in debt - every many woman and child, to just our federal government, while in Israel the government debt burden is only $36,000 per capita, that you would place American even further in debt to help those who are better off than they are?
Given that reality, why are we borrowing money to give it to them, instead of them borrowing money to repay us?
Look it up if you can't remember 2016.
Shapiro was a NeverTrumper because Trump said he was going to end our "stupid wars" in the Middle East that were of no advantage to Americans.
You don't have to look any farther than our current war to understand why Shapiro now says he supports him.
Shapiro is a voice for Israel, not 'the right'.
He doesn't care about American interests, only what Americans can do for his favored foreign nation.
Tried to monetize everything and people don’t want to or can’t pay anymore. Couple that with some strange attacks on people he/they shouldn’t attack and it’s a recipe for disaster.
Always reassuring when open outlet like WaPo or NYT is “concerned” about anything conservatives. I’m sure it is genuine concern.....
Our massive debt is NOT DRIVEN by Israel. And in this war with Iran, they’ve flown over half of all the sorties. So we’d be getting a good return on our dollar, if that is the criteria.
We are fighting Iran FOR OUR PURPOSES! We’ve had the stated goal of “No Nukes for Iran” since the Shah fell. IT BENEFITS US!
Israel is helping and in fact doing much of the heavy lifting. Why do YOU want to toss away possibly the only loyal ally the USA has?
Want to save more money than Israel costs us? Pull out of Europe and let the Euroweenies go to hell.
“He doesn’t care about American interests”
Odd. He lives here. He is a US citizen. His family lives here.
many of his arguments involve:
Abortion - very legal in Israel. Shapiro opposes it. He approves of capital punishment. He largely rejects climate change. He supports Trump - now. Didn’t in 2016.
He rejects homosexuality. Israel supports it. He supports gun ownership. He long ago said “One American soldier is worth far more than an Afghan civilian” - a sentiment I strongly agree with! He rejects the race baiting of the democrats.
So what is your problem with him? Most of what he discusses - and most of why people attack him - involve US issues.
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