What's Resonating: Tuesday, October 14th
Peace and protests
We’re back with another edition of What’s Resonating – a daily newsletter from the Resonate team that delivers a data-driven snapshot of the stories, trends, and messages shaping online culture and politics.
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Now, let’s dive in.
What’s Resonating
Peace deal in Israel and Gaza
Protests in Chicago and Portland
Shutdown discussion
Today’s Takeaway: Content featuring protests against ICE was overwhelmingly popular over the weekend. With No Kings protests planned for this Saturday, left-leaning creators and page managers should prepare to attend and capture content, or share posts with powerful (or humorous) messages about standing up to the Trump administration’s authoritarian crackdowns.
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This Weekend on Social Media
🟦 Left-leaning accounts
Posts featuring clips of demonstrations or plans for further protests against ICE and Trump’s authoritarianism were popular on left-leaning posts:
Don Lemon interviewed a Chicago ICE protestor who blows a whistle to warn about ICE vehicles while explaining why he views their actions as kidnapping. (6.3 million views, 33x average likes) and shared a clip of a Chicago lawyer at a protest clearly laying out First Amendment rights to federal agents. (1 million views)
Johnny Palmadessa shared a clip of ICE blocking church leaders from holding communion for detainees at the Chicago detention center. (3.9 million views, 20x average views on TikTok, and 1.9 million views and 40x average likes on Instagram)
Aaron Parnas reported that the Trump administration is growing nervous as No Kings Day is set to break records for a demonstration in America. (1.5 million views)
Resonate’s Take: Videos of citizen activism and solidarity continue to perform extraordinarily well ahead of the No King’s protests this Saturday, October 18th. Keep your eyes peeled (and cameras out) for uplifting moments to amplify.
MSNBC shared a clip of Chris Hayes questioning Trump’s health and mental acuity. (6.1 million views)
Aaron Parnas reported on Trump firing nearly every employee in the Department of Education office overseeing special education as part of layoffs during the shutdown. (5.7 million views, 6x average likes and views)
Resonate’s Take: Shutdown-related posts saw a slight uptick in performance for left-leaning pages over the weekend, but still under-performed. Unfortunately, shutdown-related posts from right-leaning pages over-performed, largely on the strength of Trump’s Friday announcement to pay U.S. troops through the shutdown.
Matt Bernstein quote-tweeted a photo from Ivanka Trump featuring the Western Wall, adding “girl f**k you and your pedophile dad AND Israel.” (563,000 likes, 23x average likes)
President Obama shared a video of his conversations with Obama Foundation alumni about work in Hungary and Poland to push back against authoritarianism. (8.8 million views)
Zohran Mamdani posted a video of himself getting on a bike as a woman calls him a communist before he responds, “It’s pronounced cyclist.” (10.6 million views)
Courier clipped George Stephanopoulos ending an interview with JD Vance after the VP refused to acknowledge basic facts about Tom Homan. (3.2 million views)
MeidasTouch also shared the clip (6.4 million views)
Last Week Tonight shared their segment on Bari Weiss’ history in commentary and opinion after she was named Editor-in-Chief of CBS News. (2.5 million views, most-viewed political YouTube post)
🟥 Right-leaning accounts
Right-leaning pages reacted to the peace deal between Israel and Hamas:
Donald Trump shared a video from the signing of the “Gaza Peace Plan” (6.9 million views) and an edited video of Trump’s comments during the signing, highlighting bringing home the hostages and how this is an “incredible triumph for Israel.” (267,000 likes on Instagram and 3 million views on Instagram)
JD Vance quote-tweeted Elizabeth Warren’s post celebrating peace, adding “the president told me he did this on Indigenous People’s Day in honor of you.” (250,000 likes)
Candace Owens criticized Trump as “evil” for supporting the “planned ethnic cleansing [in Gaza] so that they could profit on the land and turn it into a beach town.” (1.6 million views)
Fox News amplified Trump’s quote that “the war is over.” (237,000 likes, 10x average likes)
Gunther Eagleman shared a meme depicting Greta Thunberg advocating for the end to the war in Gaza only to get upset when Trump is the one to do it. (145,000 likes, 54x average likes)
Resonate’s Take: While neutral pages drove the most engagement on Israel and Palestine this weekend, posts from right-leaning pages performed the best, with 25% higher engagement scores on Israel/Palestine content than either left-leaning or neutral posts.
Erika Kirk, the Charlie Kirk Show page, Charlie Kirk’s account, and Turning Point USA page shared several posts in honor of Charlie Kirk a month after his passing (890,000 likes on the Erika Kirk post, most-liked political post on Instagram).
Kai Trump promoted her new video series featuring a video with Donald Trump “1 on 1.” (504,000 likes on Instagram and 2.2 million views on YouTube, the most-viewed right-leaning YouTube video).
Benny Johnson amplified a clip of Trump talking with Kai about chasing the dream of being a “great president.” (167,000 likes)
Resonate’s Take: Kai Trump is ushering in a new generation of grift for the Trump family, using government property and resources to sell screen-printed sweatshirts and launch a career as a YouTuber. Kai Trump largely posts about her golf team, travel, shopping, and relatable struggles for her age group. Trojan-horsing the ultra-conservative family’s values for the next wave of young voters—keep an eye on what she’s doing.
Elon Musk argued that “mass illegal immigration was actively promoted by the Biden administration.” (233,000 likes)
The Hodgetwins amplified news that Trump ordered the payment of all U.S. troops. (214,000 likes)
The White House account shared a post including memes about the social media team being furloughed due to the “Democrat Shutdown.” (276,000 likes)
The Donald Trump for President account celebrated the Supreme Court ruling that reaffirmed Trump’s ability to remove executive officials, claiming “the 90-year-old shield that protected unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats from being fired is now gone.” (183,000 likes, 37x average likes)
🟨 Neutral (Political) accounts
Reactions and coverage of the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza were also popular on neutral pages:
Al Jazeera English shared a video of a Palestinian man in Gaza returning to his home to find it still standing. (20.9 million views)
Eye on Palestine posted about journalist Saleh Al-Ja’frawi’s reported killing in Gaza City (868,000 likes) along with images from his funeral. (612,000 likes)
Dylan Page reported on the exchange of the final hostages. (3.8 million views)
The Daily Mail shared a clip of Netanyahu thanking Trump for being “the greatest friend that the state of Israel has ever had in the White House.” (1.7 million views)
ABC News reported that Joe Biden is undergoing radiation to treat his prostate cancer. (10.1 million views)
CBS News posted a clip of Trump suggesting there is nothing he can do to get into heaven. (4.8 million views)
ABC7Chicago reported that Trump directed the Pentagon to use “all available funds” as a short-term fix to ensure troops were getting paid despite the government shutdown. (11.3 million views, 43x average views)
CNN posted a video of federal agents in Chicago detaining a WGN TV station employee. (4.3 million views)
Reuters reported on hundreds of Portland residents riding their bikes nude to protest Trump’s threats to deploy the National Guard in the city. (2.9 million views)
🟨 Neutral (Cultural) accounts
Taylor Swift celebrated the success of her latest album release and announced a documentary series about her Eras Tour.
Nara Smith announced the birth and name of her fourth child, Fawnie Golden Smith.
Celebrities and cultural pages honored Diane Keaton, including Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, Vogue, the Shade Room, and Entertainment Tonight.
Popular SNL clips included Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi (4.6 million views across two posts) and a Weekend Update segment including on the ceasefire deal, federal agents in American cities, and RFK Jr.’s comments on autism (4.1 million views across two posts)
Personal finance creator Frank Niu posted a video on the stock market dropping $1 trillion after China restricted the export of rare earth metals and Trump enacted retaliatory tariffs. (4 million views, 9x average views)
Jake Shane teased his 100th podcast episode guest with a Scandal-style promo. (1.7 million views)
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