They Never Liked the Suits. They Just Didn’t Have a Choice.

Something that’s been bouncing around in my head.

You may notice that some of the biggest names of today didn’t come through the normal pipeline. They didn’t shake the right hands or go to the right schools.

They’re not as polished as figures of the past. They show up as they really are, talk like real people (direct and a little messy) and let the audience decide.

The audience decided fast.

Look at Zohran Mamdani. He talks (and smiles) like someone who actually believes politics means something. There’s no triangulation or consultant glaze. He sounds like a human and not a piece of direct mail.

The same goes for Pat McAfee. McAfee’s whole appeal is that he sounds alive. He’s unpredictable, reactive, emotional and impossible to script.

Same with MrBeast, who spent a decade obsessively A/B testing and iterating until efficacy arrived and he cracked the attention code. He studied the algorithm, saw his opening, never stopped and now his face lives everywhere.

Then there’s Graham Platner, who as of now on Kalshi has a 64% chance of winning the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine. He’s a veteran who sells oysters and films raw videos around rural Maine, and he suddenly emerged in the national political conversation because Mainers are flocking to his events, standing by him as attacks come from the Maine governor (his primary opponent) and Chuck Schumer in DC.

Even the content creator Daniel Mac can walk up to billionaires with a phone and they treat him like press. They answer his questions because he doesn’t posture, he goes direct and asks the simplest question in America.

“What do you do for a living?” People drop their guard.

This isn’t an accident. This is the new hierarchy. If people stop scrolling when you appear on their feed, you have more access than almost all of our top leaders and institutions.

It’s tempting to blame this all on technology... but the algorithm didn’t create these preferences. It exposed them. The public actually never really liked the polished and rehearsed personalities. There just weren’t any other options.

Now with the internet in full bloom and the algo raging, the incentives tilt toward directness, humor, conviction and a pulse. If you talk like a real person, you win. If you’re a walking press release, you lose.

The casualties have been predictable. The Chuck Todd / Jake Tapper / Brian Stelter class who refereed the old world are struggling. Todd got eased out of NBC after years of sliding ratings. Tapper can’t hold a primetime audience. Stelter seems like a dated novelty of the early Trump era. They were perfect for a world that no longer exists.

The consultant-driven political candidates no longer get traction. Even people who once symbolized authenticity like Howard Stern are getting swallowed by the gravitational pull of normalcy.

Stephen A. Smith, McAfee, Mamdani, Platner and Daniel Mac have little in common but one big thing: when they talk, people listen and stick around. They are real voices that cut through the crap. Going viral once is easy, the algorithms hand it out like candy. What matters is who the public sticks to.

Right now, the masses aren’t circling the traditional and polished voices. They’re finding the ones who sound alive, who don’t need a script and could walk into a room cold and hold it.

This is the only qualification that matters now. Everything else is noise.