The Emily Hart Saga | Part 1

How a 22-year-old student from India created a popular MAGA influencer to grift conservative men.

Aug 12, 2026

Morgan SungMaya CuevaChris EgusaChris Hambrick

From behind a shadowy figure, a laptop is lit up by an AI assistant displaying three social media posts of AI-generated influencer Emily Hart, who has long blonde hair and blue eyes. From left to right: Hart in a hot tub wearing sunglasses and a red hat holding a beer, with the text, “Of course Democrats protest against ICE… Cuz they are deporting half of their voters…”; Hart in an American flag bikini taking a photo of herself in a mirror; Hart standing in front of a brick building wearing nursing scrubs and a stethoscope. The laptop and figure are glitchy with blue and red hues. The background of the image is of glitchy, light blue broken glass. The text "Close All Tabs" appears in white text in the lower right corner.

A glitchy image of a person on their laptop displaying images of Emily Hart, a conservative AI-generated influencer. (Composite image by Maya Cueva and Morgan Sung; images courtesy of “Sam” and Canva)

View the full episode transcript.

Emily Hart was a pickup-driving, Trump-supporting blonde bombshell who frequently posted photos on Instagram along with captions about “deporting illegals.” Within a few weeks she gained thousands of followers. It was like she was engineered to go viral in the MAGA-sphere — because she was. A 22-year-old medical student in India who goes by “Sam” is the person behind Emily Hart, and he shepherded her to viral fame with a combination of right-wing engagement baiting and AI assistance. Reporter Ej Dickson, who wrote about Sam and Emily Hart for WIRED, describes how he was able to grift so many conservative men. And Sam himself explains how something that began as a fun side-hustle took a disturbing turn.