AIN personalities tend to package their philosophy and policy alongside reactionary or attention-getting content, building brands that include rants, mini documentaries, and long-form interviews that can last hours. Their millions of followers tend to see them as trustworthy, authentic, and accountable -- three qualities Lewis identifies as the foundations of a successful channel. Such channels also typically evince a tone of edginess -- even danger. Iconoclasm is the norm. Lewis calls it a paradoxical mix of "hyper-traditional ideals with the rebellious positioning of past countercultural movements."

This serves as an important reminder of how increasingly common it is for young people to embrace anti-Left politics out of a desire to rebel. The success of the AIN is but one symptom of a larger evolution of the conservative disposition away from Burkean instincts of caution and respect in favor of juvenile defiance and distrustfulness.