The Right’s Loudest Fight Is About Money, Not Principles

I’m going to be honest: I’m exhausted by the Candace Owens vs. Ben Shapiro “woke right vs. establishment” chaos dominating X right now.

Not because it’s offensive. Not because it’s dangerous. But because it’s wildly overblown and increasingly unserious.

Nobody with a healthy relationship to the internet actually cares about this fight. Normal voters are not tracking Twitter feuds between media personalities. They are not making their midterm decisions based on who subtweeted whom, or who took the best shot in an AmFest speech. The idea that this drama is going to swing elections is grossly exaggerated by the very people who benefit most from keeping it alive.

What is happening is much simpler: clicks, monetization, and engagement incentives doing exactly what they’re designed to do.

Publicly, everyone is outraged. Privately, everyone is fine. They insult each other in public, shake hands behind the scenes, and all cash the checks as long as the numbers keep going up. On every side. There is no moral high ground here—just competing brands fighting over the same attention economy.

This isn’t a battle for the soul of the right. It’s a content loop. And the only people truly invested in it are the ones whose livelihoods depend on keeping you angry, clicking, and refreshing your feed.

If we’re serious about winning elections and actually expanding the coalition, we should probably stop pretending that influencer drama is ideological warfare and just give it a rest.