'No Rizz': Young MAGA Voters Are Repelled By JD Vance As Trump Fades
Bulwark Publisher Sarah Longwell and the site's “False Flag” editor Will Sommer have been analyzing the critical youth MAGA vote that helped put President Donald Trump over the finish line a little more than a year ago, and they report their enthusiasm is waning for Trump’s preferred replacement.
Polls suggest Trump is deep in cold water and that his lame-duck chapter may already be underway, even before the 2026 mid-terms — primarily because of the expectation that his Republican Party will be trounced and his GOP Congressional majority evaporated.
Youth helped put Trump in the White House a second time, but Bulwark surveys of young voters who swung from Biden to Trump last time feel less enthusiasm for electable Republicans and more passion for unelectable boors and white nationalist firebrands — if, indeed, they feel anything at all.
“Like, he doesn't give you all the heebie-jeebies at all?” demanded one female respondent, speaking of Vice-President JD Vance, who has already announced his intent to run for president in Trump’s absence at the next national election.
“I shouldn't judge a book by its … cover or whatever. But I just kind of like — it’s one of those, like, feelings like — eeyuck — I don't know,” said another.
“They're just creeped out by Vance or find him boring, weird, and like no rizz, no rizz,” said Longwell.
No rizz is modern slang used to describe someone who lacks charisma, charm, or appeal — particularly in romantic or social contexts. The term suggests that a person is unable to attract others or lacks the magnetism needed to impress or seduce someone.
Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio got middling to slight enthusiasm from young Biden-to-Trump voters, which looks bad for Vance. However, young MAGA men appeared to be throwing their attention to even more controversial candidates like Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, who coddles white nationalism and Holocaust denialism while demanding a “ho-tax” from Only Fans users.
“I don't know if you've heard of Fishback. He's trying to run for governor of Florida. I really like what he's doing. He's young. He's very articulate in terms of what he says. And he's focusing on the people of Florida in particular,” said one survey respondent, who had not been asked about Fishback in the survey.
Other respondents echoed his enthusiasm, to the surprise of survey organizers who had not had Fishback on their radar. This, said Longwell, is unfortunate for the Republican Party because critics consider Fishback the kiss of death for centrist-minded Independent voters.
“Fishback is sending a clear message to white nationalist groups: “I’m your guy,’” Political Research Associates senior research analyst Ben Lorber told the Miami Herald.
Longwell pointed out that Fishback is “polling in the low single digits — in actual Florida, like with actual Floridians — he is not doing that well, but he's clearly getting a lot of attention online.”
“This is a guy who, in terms of actual accomplishments in life, is just about at nothing,” said Sommer, who also described Fishback as “insanely racist”. “And he has this kind of insane, twisted backstory. He was at a hedge fund. He got fired from the hedge fund because he was focusing too much on his anti-woke high school debate startup. And basically, he engaged in all this subterfuge where he had people posing as reporters or angry investors at the hedge fund. And as a result, he's ended up with what I think is going to be ... $2 million plus debt to the hedge fund over legal fees.”
“He's getting his car seized by U.S. Marshals. He's spending on all these luxury goods and he bought a Cartier watch, wore it to a deposition and the hedge fund said, ‘well, wait a minute, you know, we got to seize that.’ So … this guy is at like the very low level of success in life. And I should say also, there are these allegations in court that he had a relationship with a 17-year-old at his high school debate star.”
“It’s definitely a bad sign for where the MAGA movement is headed,” concluded Sommer.
“Yeah, it's a really bad sign,” Longwell agreed.
Watch the Bulwark podcast at this link.
Reprinted with permission from Alternet
