About one-third of Americans get their news from YouTube, and some of them are watching Brett Cooper.
The 24-year-old has drawn a following as host of The Brett Cooper Show, where she offers mostly conservative reactions to news events. In recent weeks she has sometimes praised President Trump and also, notably, criticized him. She also traded online messages with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over whether to call the influencer Nick Fuentes a "Nazi."
Cooper is part of a constellation of personalities who interpret the news for their followers. She first drew attention as a UCLA student criticizing COVID lockdowns. She later joined the Daily Wire, a conservative news site, then launched her standalone program in January.
She spoke with NPR in a video interview that you can watch above or on YouTube. Below are some highlights.
She says people watch shows like hers for the hosts, not the ideology
"My job is just to talk to people," she said. "I don't really consider myself a newscaster." When she developed the show she experimented with interviews but eventually stuck with talking directly to the camera.
Though her politics are mostly populist or conservative and generally pro-Trump, she says viewers come to The Brett Cooper Show for Brett Cooper. She is happy talking about Justin Bieber or Blake Lively as well as political news. She believes she started with an overwhelmingly male audience, but has worked to attract women by talking more about her engagement, her wedding and, recently, becoming a parent.
She says she's traditional, but not a "tradwife"
"My views on family are definitely more traditional," Cooper said, but "tradwife has become this internet aesthetic. It has become a trend… the sun dresses, frolicking in fields, churning butter, making sourdough. And it feels a lot less about real values… and more about posturing."
She reflects disagreements within Trump's coalition
Cooper spoke out after Trump, in an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, said the United States needs high-skilled immigrants because Americans lack the necessary talents. It was an unusual stance for the president, and Cooper disagreed.
"I think my disappointment and concern was shared by my audience and people who are like me," she said. "This is like the worst thing for a president to say."
She also criticized Trump for dismissing consumers' concerns about high prices and affordability as a Democratic hoax.
More recently she praised the president for promising a crackdown on Afghan refugees and other immigrant groups: "I think it's safe to say both illegal and legal immigration are absolutely in fact overrunning our country," she said on her show.
She defends her position on Nick Fuentes
Cooper got in an online fight with Sen. Ted Cruz, who has criticized antisemitism in the Republican Party. Cruz referred to the activist Nick Fuentes as a Nazi. Cooper said it was wrong for Cruz to use that label.
In the NPR interview, she said Fuentes had a right to speak, and referred to "the Streisand effect," suggesting that criticizing Fuentes would simply draw more attention to him.
"For Gen Z, what people on both sides of the aisle need to realize is, the more that you tell my generation not to watch something, not to look into something, not to listen to something, that something is bad, or censor somebody, we're going to go look for that content," she said.
When asked if she agrees with Fuentes' claim that "Jewish gangsters" control the country, Cooper said, "Not really," though she added, "I am concerned about the impact of Israel in our country."
She said she did not "agree with Nick Fuentes on everything," but largely didn't criticize him. "I don't think I need to sit here and condemn anyone either way."
Ultimately, she says she makes up her own mind
Cooper says politicians have called her to hear her views about what younger people are thinking, but that she is reluctant to let politicians influence her too much.
"I want my audience to know that if you're coming to watch the Brett Cooper Show, she doesn't have a senator in her ear saying, 'Hey, these are my opinions, could you share them?'" she said. "But if I see what's going on X, Ted Cruz saying something, I want to talk about it."
The broadcast version of this interview was produced by Taylor Haney and edited by Adam Bearne. The digital version was produced by Majd Al-Waheidi.
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