'This job has destroyed me': MAGA podcaster goes down in flames after affair scandal

Far-right podcaster Elijah Schaffer was once a rising star, according to right-wing watchdog and Bulwark reporter Will Sommer. He was an “ad-libbing political loudmouth” with a penchant for exciting the right kind of audience. But now Sommer reports the online right is being rattled by a recording that suggests Schaffer may have had an affair. Some are even starting to suspect that their traditional-family-values heroes “may not be so trad after all,” according to Sommer.

“Even more scandalous: the affair was with his employee Sarah Stock, an e-girl and influencer so ostensibly traditional that her marriage was blessed by the pope himself,” Sommer said.

Schaffer, himself, had a long way to fall, said to Sommer.

“His coverage of the 2020 riots in the wake of George Floyd’s murder propelled him into a job hosting a popular show for mentor Glenn Beck’s network, the Blaze,” said Sommer. “Schaffer’s boozy, racist frat-boy persona was a hit. … He literally was in Nancy Pelosi’s office on January 6^th — and saw his stature grow because of it. But in 2022, Schaffer was fired from the Blaze after allegedly groping a coworker. He also provoked another harassment lawsuit against the outlet from his female cohost.”

For much of the last decade, Sommer said Schaffer has been a regular presence on the far-right conservative media scene as a podcaster before serving as CEO of the outlet RiftTV, where he and helpers discussed trad values, “of which he — married in 2020 and now the father of two young children — was not just an outspoken supporter but presumably an exemplar,” said Sommer.

He became “a vocal family man, touting his wife and children frequently on social media, and shaming other influencers who didn’t have strong marriages and households,” said Sommer.

But a few months ago, Schaffer took a month-long absence from his show, and when he returned on January 26 Sommer said he literally “looked rough.” Schaffer admitted his face was unusually red, but he blamed the lights in his new studio and tried to claim he’d developed a “permanent black eye” from mental stress that could drive people to suicide.

It was on one of these weird return shows that Schaffer launched into an attack on his wife, with whom he had filed for divorce days earlier.

“Mama bear, mama bear, f—— you!” Schaffer said. “What about dad? What about dad? Don’t f——with me! Don’t f——with my kids. Don’t f——with my income, don’t f——with my ability to take care of my kids. I will f—— you up.”

He later claimed during a January 28 show that: “This job has destroyed me, and I’m not even very popular!”

Sommer said things got worse from there when right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos posted recordings and transcripts on social media questioning Schaffer’s hypocrisy and mental stability.

In one recording, a man sounding like Schaffer supposedly talks about having a drinking problem. Another allegedly features Stock, who was also a RiftTV political commentator, contributor and street interviewer, describing a sexual relationship with Schaffer that began at the Conservative Political Action Conference (presumably in February 2025). Yiannopoulos claims the woman is Stock and says she had an encounter with Schaffer after he offered her Benadryl and shots of alcohol, prompting her to black out.

Sommer said Stock became a right-wing Catholic influencer and gained prominence after one of her racist rants during a YouTube debate with liberal commentator Sam Seder.

“Since then, she has been a fierce opponent of extramarital sex, denouncing “fornication,” said Sommer, adding that “the brewing scandal has provoked what can only be described as an outpouring of schadenfreude” since both have made enemies with their “vigorous moral policing.”

“The trad stuff is performative BS,” declared MAGA influencer “Emily Saves America,” who had clashed with Stock.

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