Trump the media creation wants to compete with them
His frenemy Rupert Murdoch will stand in his way
Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch, frenemies extraordinaire
Credit: Al Drago/NY Times
Trump the businessman in the 1980s was a media mirage, his 2000s reinvention as the host of The Apprentice is what introduced him to wider America. He is the first media-created President. Italy’s Berlusconi actually OWNED the networks that made him famous, Trump was only just a “guest” and hired talent, whose cartoonish character drove ratings. His 2016 run started as a vanity project to boost his contract with NBC and almost ended as the launchpad for his TrumpTV network. He wanted to be a shadow President, intent on haranguing his “base” every night and mounting quixotic attacks against President Hillary Clinton. Sadly, he won in 2016 and had to actually BE (or rather pretend and play act) President. Trump’s uneasy and conflicting relationship with the Murdoch family is shaping up to come to a close, as the patriarch Rupert has given Trump his thumbs down.
Trump, schlocky 1980s media creation
Trump’s original claim to fame in the go-go 1980s was to try and leapfrog much larger and wealthier real estate developers such as the Lefraks. His “empire” was always a Potemkin affair, a hodgepodge of holdings dwarfed by his competition. The media was always his savior of sorts as he constantly made headlines, positive or negative. Trump was always addicted to his own media coverage, especially in the NY tabloids e.g. the NY Post. His love-hate relationship with NYT’s political reporter Maggie Haberman dates back to her early days at the NY Post.
His 1990s bankruptcies diminished his media star power and Mark Burnett reinvented him in the 00s as the host of the Apprentice, showering millions he sorely needed and boosted his ego as Trump spoke to America, not just the 5 boroughs of NYC. Trump’s embrace of the birther movement is a media ploy and accelerated his political rise, aided by his ability to be on all networks, all the time, mostly via phone interviews.
Hostile takeover of the GOP, aided & abetted by CNN
Trump’s hostile takeover of the GOP in 2015-2016 and his crowning as their nominee, he the lifelong pro-choice Democrat who funded ALL of Hillary Clinton’s campaigns, was a media-powered operation. Jeff Zucker, formerly of NBC and now at CNN, made sure his former “talent” was on the network for hours. In the end, all US media “moguls' ' became addicted to the ratings and $ Trump generated for them, this enabled a never elected non politician to destroy the GOP from within. Ratings obsessed media kept Trump front and center during the campaign, as he kept providing outrageous quotes before, during and after the never ending debates. Disgraced CBS head Moonves famously and disgustingly recapped it well enough in 2016.
A media President like never before
Trump the showman has publicly called for his Presidency to be structured like a tv show, often “casting” his advisers and Cabinet officers based on their tv acumen. The symbiotic relationship between politicians and media goes back to the 18th century but typically they use media to amplify their message, not source it. Trump’s mirror- like tweeting of Fox News shows to create policy, as analyzed tirelessly by Matthew Gertz, is downright scary. The endless feedback loop on topics, large and small, has driven media coverage and the political debate since 2017. US media has been overtly lazy and often little more than a microphone, broadcasting Trump’s tweets as though they were political pronouncements. The past 5 years have seen US political media beclown itself as it sought to normalize a President that foreign media rightly saw as a constant source of chaos. Most foreign media is rightfully aghast at the level of edits necessary to render Trump’s word salad intelligible.
An uneasy relationship with the Murdochs, his frenemies extraordinaire
The feedback loop with Fox was mistakenly thought to mean the Murdoch clan was aligned with Trump. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rupert, the patriarch,has famously despised Trump for decades and hasn’t been shy in leaking that he regularly lampoons and insults the President, who he considers to be “a fucking idiot”. Lachlan, the favorite son and heir, has been careful in his “management” of Fox News.
The Murdochs have always backed winners and Rupert decided Trump was a loser in 2020, going so far as to tell him so directly. In turn, the President has been loudly complaining “Fox News is different this year” and Murdoch’s Wall St Journal, the NY Post and now Fox have indeed started to distance themselves from Trump. Over the past 72 hours conservative media luminaries such as Rush Limbaugh have acquiesced to Biden’s win and their desertion is going to be the nail in Trump’s coffin for 2020.
Most major media played along with the “Trump show” but their viewers have tired of the constant chaos. Media seems to finally grow a spine and has been pushing back on the lies and deceit. Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election, by the media. This all important “seal” is of course instantly contested by Trump, who branded the media “the enemy of the people”. Twitter has finally understood its role and is now essentially blocking Trump’s tweets. The media is no longer feeling compelled to treat him with the aura of the office and his “media armor” rings hollow.
What’s next: a brawl between Murdoch and Trump for control of the “base” and the profits they generate
Trump’s leapfrog from bankrupt real estate developer to President was greatly aided by Roger Ailes, the brains behind Fox News. Trump’s fascination with the media business led Jared Kushner to draw up plans in 2016 for TrumpTV. It’s quite clear that Trump could become a real billionaire by pioneering a subscription-based Trump Nation service at $9.99/month. MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch has been saying for months Trump’s post -presidency will be a non stop grift. His “base” is surely craving more, time will tell just how much. Trump’s constant tweets made him the commenter in chief during his 4 years, he was always more comfortable in that role vs actually governing.
The 45th President could also further innovate and build himself an Oval Office replica tv studio and harangue his base every night, critiquing every Biden move. An additional expected innovation would be to start charging an entrance fee for his rallies, given they’re already more like concerts vs traditional political functions.
This is where Trump will find the Murdochs in his way. Lachlan Murdoch was asked last week what News Corp would do in the event of such a competition and the heir to the media throne brushed it aside. Trump has been souring on Fox for months, pushing his rally attendees to boo the network repeatedly. It’s clearly expected that Rupert the patriarch will NOT let Trump “steal” his viewers and profits. Roger Ailes’ genius move to focus on a sliver of viewers and get them addicted to Fox’s stream of outrage-filled rhetoric has produced billions in profits for the Murdoch family since 1996. The Murdochs have ink in their veins and are not about to let anyone, even a soon-to-be former POTUS, near their golden goose. Don Jr has orchestrated the takeover of the smaller OANN competing network by his friends. Whatever Trump decides to do, you can expect a brawl within conservative media. As for Trumpism without Trump, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley is going to be front and center on Fox and other conservative media outlets.
As Trump likes to say, “we’ll see what happens”.