A new commentary from The Daily Wire takes aim at the political grifters who, in the author’s view, are making everyone stupider by exploiting the attention economy. The piece, titled “The Political Grift That’s Making Everyone Stupider,” uses the recent deportation of controversial figure Milo Yiannopoulos as a case study, arguing that such personalities shift their views and personas for clicks and cash, ultimately shaping political life in the “dumbest ways.”
The Rise and Fall of a Political Grifter
The article traces Yiannopoulos’s trajectory from a 2015-16 provocateur—described as a “flamboyantly gay man making transgressively edgelord statements” and a “brainchild of Steve Bannon”—to his fall from grace after comments seemingly endorsing priest abuse of underage boys. Despite the implosion, Yiannopoulos remained in the public eye, interning for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, appearing on Tucker Carlson’s and Candace Owens’s shows, running a campaign with Kanye West, and transforming into a “supposedly ex-gay man who was militantly Christian.”
His Visa overstay and subsequent deportation brought him back into the spotlight, this time as a guest on Piers Morgan’s show, where he lamented his treatment. The Daily Wire piece quotes Yiannopoulos describing his ordeal: “Sure, it was humiliating and it was disorientating… It was physically degrading. It was frightening. I don’t think I’ve ever been frightened like that before.” He also mentioned being swarmed by 15 agents and not eating for 24 hours.
Author’s Critique and Calls for Attention Discipline
The author, whose name is not specified in the source, is unsparing in his critique, calling Yiannopoulos a “drama queen” and expressing skepticism about his claims, such as the story of two agents walking off the job. The piece also highlights a 2025 tweet where Yiannopoulos said, “I f*cking love tyranny,” and a callous tweet about Dennis Prager’s accident that left him paralyzed.
The core argument is that the “political incentive structure in this country has been skewed by the attention economy.” The author suggests that public figures like Piers Morgan defend their actions by pointing to high click counts, treating that as validation. “The attention economy should not dictate politics,” the author writes, warning that when “the public starts to substitute clicks for judgment, then people end up following some of the most idiotic and immoral people in America and abroad.”
Collective Illusions and the Copying Cascade
To bolster the argument, the author cites Todd Rose’s book “Collective Illusions,” which describes how people often follow others based on perceived popularity, creating a “copying cascade” that can turn wisdom into stupidity. “If people can see one another’s choices and if they’re merely copying each other, wisdom becomes stupidity in a hurry,” Rose writes, as quoted in the piece. The author connects this to the American Founders’ concerns about mob rule and their preference for checks and balances over pure democracy.
The author concludes by urging readers to withhold their attention from such grifters, noting that “there are only so many breaths you have in this life.” The piece, while admitting that discussing these figures gives them attention, argues that the warning is necessary to help people recognize and avoid the manipulation.
This article is based on a Daily Wire opinion piece that was published on .
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-political-grift-thats-making-everyone-stupider