2024-08-06 08:45:02
More than half a million concurrent viewers were tuned in to streamer Adin Ross‘ Kick channel on Monday afternoon to watch an interview with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. In addition to hearing the GOP presidential nominee rant about some of his favorite topics, they also saw Trump receive two expensive, potentially illegal gifts from Ross: a gold Rolex and a custom-wrapped Cybertruck.
Ross is a prolific 23-year-old streamer with millions of followers across Kick, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube, renowned for his boisterous energy and bro-ish antics that frequently cross a line into toxic territory. He has previously platformed the white supremacist Nick Fuentes, as well as the alleged sex trafficker Andrew Tate, a mentor of sorts. In March, Ross accidentally snitched on Tate as he planned to flee criminal charges in Romania. (Tate, who is awaiting trial, has denied the charges.) After several Twitch bans over the years, the last one permanent, Ross in 2023 moved to the streaming platform Kick, which allows gambling content and is barely moderated. “We can do whatever the fuck we want,” he told his fans at the time.
Ross began Monday’s Kick stream by acknowledging that many doubted he had really landed a Trump interview. “Today is going to be the most important stream I’ve ever done,” he said after Trump came out to 50 Cent‘s “Many Men (Wish Death)” and joined Ross before a small audience. “Everyone thought this was going to be fake,” he added. (Ross’ last blockbuster political interview, pitched as a conversation with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, instead saw him talking to a professional impersonator.)
Wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, Ross made no effort to sound or appear impartial. His questions set up Trump to complain about everything from supposed liberal bias in schools (“Even the teachers have been brainwashed,” the former president said) and border security (though, unusually, Trump did not mention Hannibal Lecter this time). Trump, for his part, praised Ross as an “outstanding” young man, predicted that the livestream would break viewership records, and said that his youngest son, Barron Trump, is a “big fan” of Ross. From Trump’s positive comments on Ross’ youth and his clout as an influencer, it seems he saw the chummy interview as a welcome advantage in an intensifying battle for the hearts and minds of Gen Z. Harris is likewise garnering support from prominent content creators and riding the momentum of Zoomer memes.
When he wasn’t bashing President Biden and Vice President Harris — or calling Harris’ elevation to the top of the 2024 Democratic ticket a “coup” — Trump made dire predictions for the future of the country should he not win the election: “I don’t think it survives,” he said at one point. He also made several of his characteristically bizarre claims about his term in office, saying that he once played Kim Jong Un the Elton John song “Rocket Man” and that before he became president, “You weren’t allowed to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ I got it back.” As Ross noted that he himself is Jewish, Trump continued, “Even if you’re Jewish, they like to say Merry Christmas. Every one of my Jewish friends say, ‘We love Merry Christmas.’”
Trump in particular commended Ross’ success in streaming and deference to him, drawing a sharp contrast between this friendly chat and a combative event hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists last week. In that appearance, Trump lashed out at ABC News congressional correspondent Rachel Scott over a tough first question on his past comments about Black people and links to white supremacists including Fuentes. During the same interview, Trump also made racist comments about Harris, falsely asserting that she had only ever claimed Indian heritage until “she happened to turn Black.” On Monday’s stream, Ross agreed that Scott had been “so rude” as Trump called her “horrible” and “nasty.” On the other hand, Trump said, Ross’ open endorsement of him for president was “ethical.”
Ross, who in the past has received Twitch bans for hateful slurs and once streamed explicit Pornhub videos to an audience that likely included many underage viewers, elsewhere sought to criticize Harris because “a rapper was twerking at her at a rally.” He did not mention the performer, Megan Thee Stallion, by name, and given his history as an edgy content creator, the scandalized routine rang somewhat hollow. But the more glaring indications that Ross was out of his depth came in the form of his gifts to Trump. First, he gave the former president a gold Rolex. “That’s a great watch company,” Trump said as he opened the box. “Now I know it’s worth it,” he added, seeming to joke that it had been worth his while to appear on Ross’ channel.
Then, toward the end of the livestream, Ross took Trump outside — they paused to greet Félix Lengyel, a Canadian streamer better known as xQc, who was wearing a shirt of Trump with gold and silver grills on his teeth — to reveal a Tesla Cybertruck wrapped with an image of Trump holding his fist up after being wounded in an assassin’s attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania rally last month. (Earlier in the stream, Ross had expressed his awe at the “badass” photo. “I got whacked,” said Trump, who described how brave his supporters were for not fleeing the scene. He did not comment on the one attendee who was killed or the two others seriously injured in the shooting.)
Brendan Fischer, deputy executive director of Documented, a watchdog group that tracks and investigates money in politics, tells Rolling Stone that Ross’ gifts appear to have been “provided to Trump in his capacity as a candidate and because he is running for office, and are therefore considered contributions” to his campaign — an interpretation supported by the Trump imagery on the truck. “It isn’t part of a pattern of gifts exchanged between him and Trump that preceded his candidacy,” Fischer points out.
Contributions are subject Federal Election Commission rules, Fischer explains — in this case, the $3,300 per election limit for individuals. What’s more, the definition of “contribution” encompasses any “gifts.”
“Giving gifts valued at tens of thousands of dollars to a candidate amounts to an illegal and excessive campaign contribution,” Fischer says. “I suspect that once Trump talks to his lawyers, we’ll get an announcement that he is turning down the gifts or donating them to charity.” The Trump camp’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, tells Rolling Stone that the campaign “will submit an advisory opinion to the FEC to seek guidance on how to handle the gifts.”
“The evidence suggests that Ross made or sought to make an illegal contribution, so he could face civil penalties,” Fischer says. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if Trump were to reject the gift and Ross were to plead ignorance of the law, in which case I suspect that the FEC wouldn’t spend too much time on the matter.”
Still, Trump at least got to sample the sound system in the Cybertruck as he and Ross gushed about Tesla CEO Elon Musk, another outspoken Trump supporter whom the former president had labeled a “genius” earlier in the livestream. The pair listened to “California Dreamin’” by the Mamas and Papas and “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys, as well as tunes by Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson, whom Trump said he knew well. The pair decided to sign off by dancing in the driveway to the Village People’s “YMCA,” a favorite at Trump rallies. “That’s the best one,” Trump said of the song before showing off his moves and making one last pitch to young viewers: “Trump is going to keep TikTok going,” he said. “Whereas Biden and Harris have no idea what it means.” Trump had initially led a charge in Washington to ban the app, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, but completely reversed his position earlier this year while vying for the youth vote.
After the stream ended, Harris for President spokesperson Sarafina Chitika blasted Trump’s performance in a statement provided to Rolling Stone: “Donald Trump’s sad attempt to connect with young voters flopped because like the rest of America, Gen Z isn’t into an unhinged, tired man trying to increase their taxes, kick them off their parents’ insurance, deny climate change, rip away their freedoms, and force his Project 2025 agenda on their entire generation,” Chitika said. The Harris campaign described the stream in a statement as “a boring, low energy interview,” noted that Ross failed to meet his goal of surpassing a million simultaneous viewers, and observed that “Trump was so diminished he could barely be heard by frustrated viewers who repeatedly commented to turn up his mic.” (The sound problems were an irony given Trump’s complaints of faulty mics and difficulty hearing at the NAJB event.)
If Trump does try to hold onto his Cybertruck, he may want to heed the warnings of other owners reporting a variety of malfunctions and structural problems, which have already led to several recalls. Probably the safest thing to do would be park it out in front of the resort as a billboard. Or, to take a page from his new pal Ross, he could bring out to a gun range and pump it full of 9mm rounds. American freedom at its finest.
