Attendees react during the AmericaFest 2024 conference sponsored by conservative group Turning Point in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. December 19, 2024. REUTERS-Cheney Orr
The Times reports that President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have fallen so out of favor with young people that they’re trying all manner of new recruitment tactics.
“We’re going to save America one frat party at a time,” said event organizer, Coreco Ja’Quan Pearson, of Georgia, over the noise of one ongoing party.
The Times reports GOP activists are desperate to mobilize America’s next generation of voters and re-energize the enclave of young people who broke from Democrats to vote for Trump two years ago.
“The timing is critical,” said Times writer Olivia Empson. “Two years into Trump’s second term, many of his young supporters have grown disillusioned with his handling of the economy and appetite for foreign wars. In the last year, Trump has lost the most ground with men under 30 and women under 25, according to a Yale Youth Poll, while Democrats have gained the most ground with men aged 23-34 and women aged 18-45.”
So, what do you use to recruit the kind of men that can save a party on the outs? Carousing, according to Pearson.
“Politics doesn’t have to be boring,” the 24-year-old conservative activist told The Times. “They’re playing topless beer pong today, but in November they’ll be at the polls and we’re going to fight like hell to get them there. … Our founding fathers wrote our founding documents at taverns.”
“Pearson looked every inch the Georgia frat boy, blending into the throng of youngsters in his slim-fit brown chinos, a red polo shirt and his signature cap,” wrote Empson. “He is not a student at the university but a prominent right-wing campaigner and founder of Next 250, a political action committee. He is on a whistle-stop tour of American college campuses, handing out merchandise, hosting rowdy parties featuring Republican congressmen and helping young voters to register their ballot ahead of the midterms.”
“Not everyone here is a sophisticated political thinker and that’s OK,” added Pearson.
The Times reported that his political action committee “received $70,000 in private donations to finance the fraternity tours.” It said Pearson has built a lucrative career as a digital pundit and Washington, D.C. organizer for the last 10 years. He has co-chaired the Republican National Committee’s youth advisory council, and he now produces short-form videos on X and Instagram, where he toggles between praising President Donald Trump and attacking Democrats.
But Pearson’s commitment has isolated him from members of his family, he said.
“You want [you parents] to be proud of you and to support what you’re doing. And my argument to them was always, I can be doing far worse things. I could be selling crack, but God forbid I’d be a Republican,” he told the Times.
