Mr. Trump’s tendency to “come up with nicknames for his opponents, float conspiracy theories,” works for

Mr. Trump’s tendency to “come up with nicknames for his opponents, float conspiracy theories,” works for
him, Mr. Favreau said, “because he wins when more people are cynical about politics and politicians.”
“Our job,’’ he added, “is to give people a reason to believe
and participate in politics, which means our version of entertainment can’t be as frivolous or nasty or dishonest.”
So they set out to mix jokes with insider descriptions of executive branch norms
and interviews, often with people who can recommend political action — a protest, a phone-call campaign, an organizing drive — which is the sort of thing mainstream news media can’t do because, as Mr. Favreau said, “it would be picking a side.”
With episodes being downloaded up to 1.4 million times, according to data they shared from their hosting platform,
ART19, they tapped into “a wave of interest about this president, a lot of it based on fear,” Mr. Favreau said.
“The fusion of media and politics now — and media as a platform for politicians and for movements — is something
that we’ve never seen before, because that’s where people are,” Mr. Favreau told me.
When I asked the founders if they thought it was a “media company,” Mr. Favreau said, “I don’t know if it’s a political movement or a media company.”
Mr. Vietor added, “We’re going to maximize for the political impact, not the financial impact.”
These days, they can be one and the same.