Jackson Hinkle (born September 15, 1999) is an American conservative and Marxist-Leninist political commentator and social media influencer who hosts the political show The Dive with Jackson Hinkle.
Early life and education
Hinkle was born on September 15, 1999, in San Clemente, California, the son of Jann and Daniel Hinkle.
Hinkle attended San Clemente public schools. Attending Shorecliffs Middle School and then San Clemente High School, he graduated high school in 2018. Hinkle was engrossed in surfing, was a member of his middle school surf club, and was also an avid artist, playing the guitar and painting.
In March 2016, during his sophomore year at high school, Hinkle founded the Team Zissou Environmental Organization (the name came from Steve Zissou, the protagonist of the Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), an environmental association that does lobbying and volunteer work such as beach cleanups in Orange County.
In 2018, recently graduated Hinkle went to D.C. as a representative of nuclear safety advocacy group San Clemente Green. He spoke at a congressional briefing on the subject of safely dealing with decommissioned nuclear plants and met with congressional members.
A year after graduating, Hinkle ran for office in the 2019 San Clemente city council special election. During this campaign he advocated that the city of San Clemente have it’s own police department, he “categorically and unconditionally” opposed the legalization of prostitution, and proposed combatting the presence and effect of nuclear waste in the area. Hinkle ultimately lost the election, winning a little less than a third of the vote. Some argued that dirty tactics were used against Hinkle, such as hit pieces being deployed against him.
Activism and career
Hinkle began his political activism in the late 2010s, running for San Clemente city council in 2019 as an anti-corporate progressive.
In 2020, Hinkle launched the political show The Dive with Jackson Hinkle on Twitch (later banned for “harmful misinformation) and YouTube (banned in the wake of the 2023 Israel-Hamas War), later expanding to Rumble.
In January 2022, Hinkle debated progressive political commentator Sam Seder on his talk show The Majority Report with Sam Seder. In the debate, Hinkle attacked Seder’s support for “the Squad” and argued that they have in effect backed the American government’s imperialist foreign policy by funding the State Department, which “is leading coups across this world and is launching hybrid warfare through the National Endowment for Democracy.” He also attacked the Squad for accepting money from billionaire investor George Soros, which Sedar countered by asking if Hinkle believed the Squad “sold out for over $2,700 from George Soros?” Sedar also challenged the idea that the Squad is given preferential treatment in the media and said their funding for the State Department is of limited importance, saying “I don’t care” repeatedly in reference to that and Hinkle’s argument about the Squad essentially being a part of the establishment. This dispute did not end with the debate and later on January 28, Sedar called Hinkle an “off-brand philosophy bro” and accused him of resorting to a pathetic “copypasta campaign” against his show.
Views
In June 2022, Hinkle debated popular liberal streamer Destiny and Hungarian YouTuber AdamSomething alongside InfraredHaz, a fellow communist YouTuber. Hinkle took part of the debate as part of the Modern-Day Debate channel, in it he argued against the idea that Russian actions in Ukraine constituted an illegal invasion. In late 2022, Hinkle as a popular communist political figure, backed and supported the trend #MAGACommunism leading it to trend on Twitter. Journalist Thomas Fazi wrote on Compact magazine, that this trend “arises out of an awareness that the MAGA movement is at a crossroads.” Hinkle in 2023, began appearing on RT. Appearing on September 20 to denounce the West’s foreign policy and state that they amount to a “hollow skeleton of power.” On October 27, Hinkle appeared on RT to denounce Israeli policy in regards to Gaza. Having previously interviewed Vladimir Solovyov in February earlier that year.