A local veteran is taking TikTok by storm, and he’s using the platform to gain support for real-life political action.
Matt Gordon said his TikTok political advocacy dates back to 2020, when the Oswego resident and Marine Corps veteran sat in a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot, pressed record, and used some colorful language to express what he thought about veterans who support Donald Trump.
While the response to that video was mixed, Gordon said from there, his liberal-leaning TikTok channel with the handle @usmcangryveteran started to take off. He said he started by encouraging people to register to vote, and then branched off into current events, while focusing on amplifying marginalized voices.
He describes TikTok as the community he didn’t know that he was missing, but is so happy that he found, and he said it opened his eyes to the reality that not everyone lives in the same United States.
"Obviously, I'm a straight, white, cis-gendered man, so I've got all the privilege in the world, so to just sit back and listen and learn has helped really shape the way that I approach my day-to-day life outside of TikTok," Gordon said.
Five years later, usmcangryveteran has more than 484,000 followers, and his advocacy is getting him access. He spoke one-on-one with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in the heat of the budget battle.
And Gordon flew to Iowa to interview fellow veteran and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. He said the possible future presidential candidate made him feel like they were the only two people in the room, and he asked Buttigieg what message he has for veterans who have been sitting on the sidelines.
"I'd say speak up, make your voice heard. Veterans have extraordinary moral authority and a lot at stake,” Buttigieg told Gordon as part of a series of TikTok clips.
Josh Darr, an associate professor of communications at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said he’s not surprised politicians are speaking to non-traditional media outlets, as their influence broadens.
"As long as it's in politicians' interests, which I think it probably is, depending on if you're good at it, to have these kind of free-flowing personalized conversations with non-journalists,” Darr said.
Darr said there are downsides to the trend, like the fact social media channels aren’t subject to the same checks and balances as traditional media outlets. But there are also positives.
"People are talking about things that they care about, things that matter to them, and they're doing so on their personal social media feeds,” Darr said. “It's not exactly traditional journalism, but you can learn a lot from what people care about and in some cases, learn how to get involved yourself."
For Gordon, it’s important to not just talk the talk on his TikTok channel. He also walks the walk.
He makes frequent visits to the office of Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney, who represents the 24th district, where Gordon lives. He shares his concerns with staffers, but jokes on his channel with members of Congress because he said he’s never seen her in person.
@usmcangryveteran Where is Claudia Tenney? #usmcangryveteran #whereisclaudia #claudiatenney #ny24 #ny24thdistrict #houseofrepresentatives #congress ♬ original sound - usmcangryveteran
He also goes to protests with the grassroots organization Indivisible Oswego County, and he encourages everyone to explore opportunities to get involved in what matters to them.
"You could find a really strong community by going to one of these places and surrounding yourself with like-minded people and organizing your voices behind a common message,” Gordon said. “That's kind of where I like spending the majority of my time now."
Gordon said he knows sharing your views online or in real life can be scary, but he wants to show it doesn’t have to be.
"We don't need one person doing a million things. We need a million people doing one thing,” he said. “That's how you effect change in this country."
