Your Favorite Multi-Millionaire Leftist Streamer is Not a Class Traitor
Online leftists have made hay for over a decade by trashing ‘the establishment’ and ‘mainstream media’ and ‘liberals,’ but are they any different? Yes, leftist messaging around important political issues is better, but does that really matter? If a member of the ruling class — and I want to be clear that multi-millionaire online leftist influencers are members of the ruling class — says all the right things while perpetuating the same systems of oppression by how they structure their own life, is that materially different than MSNBC celebrities essentially doing the same thing, but with slightly less perfect takes?
Not really. Is your favorite multi-millionaire streamer or independent media outlet unionized? I don’t mean do they spout pro-union rhetoric. I mean, are they unionized? And if they are, did they go to great lengths to try to prevent workers from unionizing? Is your go-to for leftist takes structured as a worker-owned cooperative? I’ll bet it’s not. Does your favorite socialist magazine comprise the exact same class of people they rail against, all while doing little beyond offering rhetoric to improve the material conditions of all but a handful of people at the top of its organization?
Who owns the means of production? The video editors, writers, producers, office staff, and other workers, or is it owned by one personality, or worse yet, by people you’ve never even heard of?
That many leftist influencers are wealthy is not up for debate. Hasan Piker has referred to himself in interviews. Vaush has said as much in his streams. The Young Turks is backed by multiple billionaires. Kyle Kulinski and Krystal Ball are extremely rich. Chapo Trap House has had a long run as being among the highest earners on Patreon. Every other paid-up personality on YouTube is steadily trying to sell me subscriptions I don’t want, vitamins I don’t need, and other stuff they know well and good are largely useless to their viewers. All while (rightfully) railing against Alex Jones and his brain pills. Rich people can be class traitors, but few of them actually are. Is your favorite rich leftist influencer a class traitor? Do they serve your interests or moneyed interests?
This is not an indictment of these personalities based platforms they elect to use for distribution. There are certainly ethical considerations that can be debated with regard to whether a given person should or should not use a given platform, but on that axis, even wealthy influencers are restricted to the same oligopolistic market as other consumers. There are, to my knowledge, no viable alternatives beyond YouTube or Twitch for posting streams. Bluesky may be marginally better than X, but it’s essentially the same thing when analyzed through a leftist lens (and Mastadon is never going to happen, so don’t even bring it up). This indictment that leftist influencers are loyal members of the ruling class rests strictly on the choices they make with regard to the means of production. They are multi-millionaires. Generally speaking, the people working for them are contract or wage employees, with little agency and no ownership stake in their enterprises. They have elected to re-create textbook capitalist models of production even while they critique capitalism.
This is not a case of “yet you participate in society.” People, especially wealthy members of the ruling class, can elect to participate in society in ways that are not as exploitative as the business models of Jacobin or The Young Turks. What’s the gap between the wealthiest and least wealthy person laboring for your favorite dirtbag left podcast? If it is larger than $0, that was a choice they made. That was not forced on them by the market, and is not remotely equivalent to a person with an iPhone critiquing Big Tech. Do not conflate consumption with production.
“We need systemic change. None of this matters in the great scheme of things,” you may hear. True. We do need systemic change, but it is the ruling class is who runs the system. From right-wing moguls right on down to your favorite multi-millionaire leftists. If they cannot be bothered to enact systemic change where they are empowered to do so, which would make a material difference to workers who contribute to the production of their perfect political takes, and thus to the systemic power of the working class, then they are not allies to workers.
It’s 2025 now, and it we’re on the brink of a fresh hell. Fascists are, once again, poised to take power, and liberals are almost certainly going to learn nothing from their catastrophic losses in the 2024 election, even while they continue to hamstring, primary, and sideline the best and brightest the Democrats have to offer. Many of your favorite online leftists will have better takes and a better understanding of why vitriol and hate have won the day, but that does not mean they are on your side. Ask yourself: are you a part of their community, or are you a member of their audience?
