At the TikTok-sponsored Power 30 party, out-of-touch creators leaned on their fans, dancing to 40 hits for hours in Make America Great Again hats with TikTok emblazoned ears on them. At a TikTok-sponsored party at Capital One Square on Saturday night, conservative producers received the company’s merchandise, like a koozie with a picture of Trump dancing or pink and blue colored ears. (Behind the scenes, TikTok he seems to be in a frenzy. The app went offline on Saturday night before the ban, but he returned on Sunday and push a notification to assure users that Trump will keep the program once he takes office.)

“One of the best things about my job is spending time with YouTube Creators, because they set the culture,” said Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, following his creation on Sunday. “They’re trying new ideas in the media, and it’s been amazing to have a front-row seat this past year.”

At a gala dinner Sunday, Trump campaign consultant Alex Bruesewitz, architect of the campaign’s successful content and online targeting strategy, received an award honoring his digital contributions. Years before joining the Trump campaign, Bruesewitz ran X Strategies, a political agency that works with young, aspiring online politicians like Matt Gaetz. In 2022, he published Winning the Social Media War: How Conservatives Can Fight Back, Reclaim the News, and Turn the Tide to the Lefta guide to Republicans on how to use social media to their advantage at the polls.

Bruesewitz wrote in 2022: “Social media has given us a new way to fight.”

Bruesewitz saw podcasts that could bring Trump’s message to voters who have never heard it before. Podcasts played a big role in Trump’s election, giving him a large audience of what Bruesewitz described as “middle-class and minority male voters.” in an interview with WIRED after the election. It was these voters, who Bruesewitz said rarely use traditional media, who won.

Others agreed: Shapiro told WIRED on Sunday that podcasts “gave a window to the audience.”

And according to Pearson, this year’s conservative takeover is just the beginning.

Over the summer, Pearson hosted an event with the Heritage Foundation to train more than a dozen startups on how to communicate their politics to voters online. Savannah Chrisley, Sean Mike Kelly, and Emily Saves America, some of the alumni of Turning Point USA’s ambassador program, attended.

Since 2019, Turning Point has been hiring and training at least 400 fans in what is essentially an incubator. Some of the celebrities on the right have come out of the Turning Point program, including Alex Clark, Benny Johnson, and Candace Owens. These courses are held at conferences held around the country where Turning Point leadership, such as Charlie Kirk and Tyler Bowyer, teach attendees how to post. The sponsor will be part of Turning Point’s influencer group, a social network he quickly throws them away to producers on networks like Fox News. They are invited to special events where speakers (including Trump and Tucker Carlson) speak and allow producers to interact and collaborate with them to grow their audience.