Grifter Nebula - Grifter is young, plucky, full of Idealogical zeal and original ideas. They understand the modern media landscape, and see a gap. This is Steven Crowder in his "change my mind" era.
Grifter Star - Grifter successfully gathers enough social capital to form a self-sustaining media presence. They no longer need to scrounge for listeners/followers/readers. They've found a niche and they can stick to it, but there's work to be done. They make enough money to be comfortable, but not enough that their decisions are entirely driven by profit. This is 99% of conservative YouTubers. Jordan Peterson is here.
Grifter Giant - A breakthrough. The grifter successfully enters the mainstream. Viral success, a radio show, a pastorship at a church, a memeable interview on FOX has brought a massive, massive audience to the grifter. The grifter now has real social power. The things the grifter says have a real chance of influencing actual political policy. The realm of Andrew Tate, Candice Owens post daily wire, and Alex Jones just post 9/11.
Grifter Planetary Nebula - A rare stage, not every grifter achieves this state. Most skip directly to the break point. Here, the grifter IS the discourse. This is Rush Limbaugh at the height of his career, Elon Musk during his time in the white house, every preacher at the height of the satanic panic. Politicians pray at your altar. They come to YOU, not the other way around. Not just the fringe weirdos either. Actual, respectable people have to factor you in. Ends when the grifter dies of lung cancer at 75.
BREAK POINT - CHOSE A PATH:
Grifter Black Hole - After years of dominating the grifting narrative, copycats emerge. The grifter begins to drown in a media landscape chock full of modern impressions of their schtick. The grifter loses relevance among the sleek, exciting, copycats, and is forced to say increasingly insane shit to stay relevant. Or is frankly seen as an embarrassing relic of a previous age, Associating with the grifter at this point COSTS social capital, and usually isn't worth it. This is Elon Musk post white House, Milo Yianopolus post defending pedophilia.
Grifter White Dwarf - Grifter quietly fades into obscurity. She took everything in the divorce, and your expenses are pretty modest. The grifter can get by on the core audience they built up over the years, slowly drinking themselves to death as they podcast from the Florida suburbs. You are crashing on Andrew Tates couch, but he doesn't put you in videos.
