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A gap between president and online news pioneer Matt Drudge appears in headlines and stingy tweets as the crusade warms up.
By Tiffany Hsu
Something has replaced Drudge Report, the influential one known for his headlines of tabloid poetry and his conservative interpretation of existing events, and he doesn’t think the president hasn’t noticed.
Matt Drudge, an Internet pioneer who launched his website in 1995, regarded as one of the main media advocates for Donald J’s 2016 campaign. Trump. ” A great component of why Trump is the nominee is for Matt Drudge,” Bernstein said four years ago. And Trump expressed his gratitude for the Internet journalist dressed in a felt hat, calling him a “great gentleman. “
But in those days, like CNN, the New York Times and many other media outlets, Drudge Report is just one more provider of “fake news,” according to Trump.
For everyone who hadn’t noticed on the site since he acquired a reputation for raising Trump and his conservatism logo, Monday’s homepage was a surprising sight. crusade that said, “I paid more taxes than Donald Trump. “Then it came to the impression that there was a roll of titles referring to news from sites, all written with Drudge’s choppy flavor, many of which were related to a New York Times investigation into Trump.
“DID YOU LOSE MORE MONEY THAN YOU WIN?. . . AN EXTRAVAGANT LIFESTYLE FUNDED BY THE USE OF COMMERCIAL RATES . . . A FALSE MILLIONAIRE?. . . YOU CAN’T HAVE TO LOSE: TRUMP OWES $421 MILLION. “
Drudge also failed after Tuesday’s presidential debate: “Chaos reigns in the debate of hell. . . The undecided electorate describes the president as a “sn okay,” arrogant “in a group. . . Joe confronts Don with anger. “
That’s a notable replacement from four years ago, when Drudge announced “Trump’s rock star welcome to Florida” and has highlighted stories that call into question the fitness of his opponent, Hillary Clinton. His website, at the time, also included links to Trump’s rallies policy when they occurred.
Cracks began to appear in the summer of 2019, when Drudge Report made headlines about the slow progress of a barrier Trump had pledged to build along the southern border with Mexico: “THERE IS NO NEW WALL!”In December, when the House of Representatives accused the president of abuse of force and obstruction of Congress, the siege was again large: “TRUMP ON BRINK. “
The Washington Times, a conservative newspaper, pointed to the change. “The Drudge Report has stoked the right-wing alarm of appearing to be turning in its favor with President Trump,” the paper said last November, “increasingly linking critical articles with the administration and media sites accused of having an anti-Trump bias like CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post.
In December, to announce an online page he had created, Dan Bongino, a conservative radio host and guest on Fox News, wrote on Twitter: “Drudge has abandoned you. I never will. “
In April of this year, President Trump spoke on Twitter: “I abandoned Drudge (a great guy) a long time ago, like many others. People fall like flies!” Fox News star-time presenter Tucker Carlson echoed that sentiment in a July episode of his show, saying the “Drudge Report” had “changed radically, 180 degrees” and calling Drudge “a progressive left-wing guy. “
As the presidential crusade enters its final stretch, attacks multiply. On September 1, Trump retwored a message from Mark Levin, the host of a conservative syndicated radio show and a Fox News show, complaining about Drudge Report’s capitalized policy on Mr. Levin’s refusal. Trump has suffered a fitness crisis (“TRUMP REJECTS THE MINI-GOLPE OF COURSE TO HOSPITAL. . . VIDEO: DREDGING TODROITE”). In response, Trump tweeted, “Drudge didn’t make me in 2016, and I hear he’s not doing me now. Maybe that’s why he’s not feeling well. “
Two weeks later, the president called Drudge Report “Fake News. “”Our other people are gone from Drudge,” he said on Twitter. “It’s a disaster, you have no idea what happened. “
The site would possibly have paid a value for jumping off the Trump train. It had 1. 4 million exclusive visitors in August, 42% less than last year, according to Comscore’s knowledge provided through The Righting, which analyzes the number of audiences on the right. Its audience followed that of the right-wing Internet sites The Gateway Pundit and Daily Caller. New rivals to outperform what was once the fastest on the Internet come with Liberty Daily, Rantingly and NewsAmmo, the Washington Times reported.
Drudge, who rarely offers interviews, responded to requests for comment.
In “The Drudge Revolution,” an e-book published this year, journalist Matthew Lysiak described how Drudge, the son of two Liberal Democrats, 25 years ago in a Hollywood apartment with a dial-up connection. The newsletter full of reflections on herbal mistakes and celebrities has temporarily become a position for first media, entertainment and politics.
Its founder showed a special ability to know what would make readers click when he started publishing links to fast-growing Internet articles. He has had many important firsts over the years, however, he has called for himself as an aggregator: a virtual journalist who exhibits paintings published elsewhere, and moved with such speed that he felt like he was the first, even when he was not.
When the relationship between President Clinton and Monica S. Lewisky — a story he revealed — led to an indictment in 1998, Mr. Drudge completely assumed the role of “hammer in the media complex,” Lysiak wrote. had sinister scoops about Mr. Clinton along trinkets like “Sting says rock music today – it’s boring!”
Drudge “actually invented clickbait,” the Columbia Journalism Review wrote. Frank Rich, writing in The Times in 1999, said he was a “grandfather that many, among them, once feared as the Satan of incarnate journalism. “
Drudge Report has attracted a lot of conservative love and attention. M. Drudge worked with Andrew Breitbart, who then created the right-wing News Breitbart News, and met with Trump in Mar-a-Lago. off-camera for a 45-minute interview with Alex Jones, the founder of Infowars, the founder of conspiracy theory and drug trafficking.
Mr. Lysiak, the author, said in an interview that rival websites “ingest chops, see blood in the water. “But he noted that there may be something about Drudge Report’s recent loss of traffic: the rise of social media.
“Matt Drudge has been first at all, but no more, not even close, first on Twitter,” Lysiak said. “For years other people have been wondering who the next Drudge is, but he is not a person. It is a revolution in social media and he sees this writing on the wall. “
But Drudge has a deep preference and ability to remain relevant, Lysiak said. A big couple with Trump did the trick in 2016. Betting against that can be just paint this time.
Mr. Lysiak, that readers who expected Drudge to remain true to a political line of thought are wrong.
“Actually, while Matt Drudge has his own non-public political views, his online page surely has no loyalty to a political party or ideology,” he said. “Now he’s thinking long-term, putting his political capital in a biden candidacy. And if that happens, it will once back up the crusade of your site on behalf of more conservative causes.
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