How a former Trump supporter became a viral “Woke Teen” on YouTube

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have only had one official presidential debate, but during this election cycle millions of viewers tuned in to YouTube to watch everyday Americans debate some of the hottest topics on channels like Cut, Vice and Jubilee have a combined total of over 39 million subscribers.

One such video was published by Jubilee in September under the title “Can 1 Woke Teen Survive 20 Trump Supporters?” has garnered over 11 million views. Jubilee is a YouTube channel that started in 2010 and is dedicated to videos like this one in which people on both sides of an issue – any issue, not just a political one – argue with each other on camera.

In the video, a young man sits at a table with a digital timer facing someone who identifies as a Trump supporter, and the two argue while 19 others sit in chairs around them, waiting for their turn row come. Topics range from “Donald Trump doesn't care about the American people” to “abortion is immoral and unjustified” and are sometimes carried over between different debaters. Jubilee verifies some of the statements using a pop-up at the end of the video.

The video went viral on social media for several reasons. Some viewers criticized the premise, arguing that the format “obviously” provokes anger by “spreading quick pitfall arguments on social media.” Viewers edited and shared clips of moments they thought Trump supporters had “lost,” leading to millions more views; Some called the video “legitimately painful” in the comments. One X user called the YouTube channel “CNN for Generation Z who think they're too smart for mainstream media.”

The so-called woke teenager at the center of this viral moment is Dean Withers. Withers, now 20, has appeared in several other Jubilee videos, including one with conservative political pundit Ben Shapiro, which garnered over 9 million views. Withers told Yahoo News that he was not paid by Jubilee to appear in the videos and that he helped select debate topics for his viral “Woke Teen” video before filming.

Withers loves to debate. He has built a sizable following online by talking politics with everyone out of his 224,000

Withers' ultimate goal, he told Yahoo News, is to destroy the echo chamber that he says “often exists in these far-right communities on the internet” – communities he once considered himself a part of.

Growing up in the conservative town of Grand Junction, Co., Withers said he was raised by his surroundings and online habits to believe in what he now describes as “harmful, bigoted beliefs.” Withers has been embroiled in some controversy recently, as on I don't believe in using that kind of language.

“My mother is an incredibly right-wing conspiracy theorist who absolutely loves Donald Trump,” he said. “From living under a worldview that your parents, your friends, your school, your society, your environment, are teaching you, to starting to think for yourself… A lot of cognitive development takes place during this period that can be very important and really change your perspective.”

Withers told Yahoo News that it can be extremely difficult to get out of that mindset — especially online.

“The Internet is a place where you can remain anonymous and say whatever you want and where you can believe whatever you want to believe,” he said. “This has led to many people not caring at all about what they do or say, which has led to this culture of perpetuating terrible beliefs, conspiracy theories and misinformation.”

According to Daniel Cox, director of the conservative think tank Survey Center on American Life, one reason many young men in the US are drawn to Trump is a sense of displacement.

Both Trump and Harris have tried to appeal to this demographic: Harris ran ads on sports betting platforms (including Yahoo Sports) and on gaming sites like IGN and Fandom, where the audience is predominantly male between the ages of 35 and 44, and interviewed Charlamagne Tha God to attract young people Reaching people Black male voters; Trump has appeared on various popular podcasts and streams, which also target a predominantly male audience.

The division among young men is narrow. A Yale youth poll showed Harris with just a five-point lead over Trump among young male voters, and a Data for Progress poll found that young men were evenly split between the two candidates.

“I think to what extent [Trump] can approach people like Joe Rogan or Logan Paul and express that he is someone who advocates for them and that he cares about what happens to them, [helps his campaign]Cox told Teen Vogue.

These are the kind of young men Withers wants to reach with his debates. And in his opinion it works.

“I often have people reach out to me and tell me that they are right-wing conservatives and have started watching me [videos]and after listening to me and what I have to say, it completely turns their worldview on its head,” Withers said.

In a TikTok Withers shared with Yahoo News, a user who identifies as an “ex-conservative” says he originally didn't want to vote but is now voting for Harris “simply because of that.” [Withers].”

“When I watched his debates and saw him plying MAGA with actual facts — that I had no idea existed — I thought, OK, let me do a fact check, look it up, and make sure it's not liberal propaganda acts,” they said. “Unbiased media and unbiased research proved him right.”

“I don’t know if it was an effective, results-oriented intention; I don’t know if it really influenced anyone,” Withers said of his viral debates. “But what really made me completely change my beliefs is exposure to education. And that alone is the reason why I do what I do.”