Matt Drudge used to matter. Rush Limbaugh used to do his radio show with the Drudge Report open on his computer for all 24/7 members of his website to watch in real time. Then something happened. It doesn't really matter why – money, he sold it, he felt jilted by Trump – but Matt changed. He’s gone now, ideologically, and we’re probably better off for it.
Now we see the Drudge Report attacking President-elect Donald Trump and anyone in his orbit. It’s a bit funny, like an obsessed ex who has a Pavlovian visceral response to the mention of the name of the person who has moved on, the DR can’t highlight left-wing negative stories about the man and Republicans.
To do this, to keep up the vitriol, Drudge has to link to websites that, honestly, are laughable or something you’ve never heard of. The UK Telegraph is a joke, yet their story, “Trump’s mass deportation plans thrown into doubt by Republican rebels,” with the sub-headline, “Majority of Republicans defy president-elect and vote against suspending debt limit, raising concerns over Trump’s ability to control party,” was the top story on Drudge Sunday morning.
Was it true, or was it a left-wing fever dream? It doesn’t matter because the site doesn’t matter anymore.
Still, it’s fun to mock.
I don’t know if Matt still owns the site or if he’s living on a beach somewhere the rumors floating around allow to be indulged, but I do know it doesn’t set the news of the day anymore, for the left or right.
It used to – conservatives started their day with the Drudge Report, and liberals went there to see what the other side would be talking about. Now it’s got pop-up ads and reloads so fast to prop up page views that you almost can’t click on a link before it refreshes.
Ever heard of the website “Express US”? I had not. Yet they had the top story on Drudge the other day about Trump and Elon Musk. “Elon Musk faces shareholder anger as a key Tesla backer says ‘CEO is not at work,’ the headline reads.
I thought, “Wow, a shareholder revolt? Must be a pretty big uprising, considering they voted overwhelmingly to pay Elon tens of billions of dollars not that long ago.” Well, my instincts were right.
The story was about one man – someone named Ross Gerber, who I’ve never heard of – saying, “Having your CEO not working at your company and working at the job of having to fire government employees... as a shareholder, I'm paying someone to not work for my company.”
Buy one share of Tesla and whine about Musk and there’s a better than average chance some left-wing outfit will do a story on you.
So, is Gerber upset that Musk is doing too much with Trump? Will he divest from Tesla and is he advising others to do the same? Of course not. This just north of a blog website reports, “But despite his skepticism, Gerber said he won't stop investing in Musk's businesses. ‘I've made a lot of money with Elon,’ he said. ‘I'm not in the business of investing based on the popularity of CEOs.’”
But the CEO is very popular – he helped carry Pennsylvania for Trump and Senator John Fetterman gave him credit on “This Week” for defeating entrenched Democrat Senator Bob Casey.
Drudge used to tout the accomplishments of Elon Musk, all of them. That old crush is over, all that remains is the bitterness.
Go to the Drudge Report and you will find a deconstructed Rachel Maddow monologue, with some Joy Reid racism and a bit of ambiguously gay celebrity news tossed in. It’s identity politics: the print edition, in digital form.
It’s sad what it’s become.
When my friend Andrew Breitbart came out with his book a decade ago he sent me an advance copy and I devoured it immediately. When done, I sent him a note about how good it was and he immediately called me to discuss it (it was the week before it came out and I was nervous and excited). I told him the only thing I'd change is that he’d included more about his time working with Drudge, those early days when the site REALLY mattered. I’ll never forget his response: he said if he’d written one more word than what he had, Matt “would never speak to me again.”
Matt’s a recluse, for whatever reason, and always has been. But we all assumed he was a principled one. We now know he’s not. Now his website reflects that. He’s a man without a country – the right no longer respects him, and the left never did; we no longer trust him, and the left never will. And all of it is earned.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.