Bill Berkowitz for BuzzFlash: Is Trump Planning on Becoming the Rupert Murdoch of MAGA-World?
November 16, 2020
Will Trump take on Rupert Murdoch as a media baron after he is escorted from the White House? (Ben Terrett)
By Bill Berkowitz
Is he just throwing a temper tantrum, seemingly stuck in the early phases of the five stages of grief or is he disoriented by being branded a loser? Are he and his minions plotting a coup, rounding up Oath Keepers, white nationalists, and Proud Boys for a Trump Last Stand? Planning revenge against his political enemies – former administration officials and Democrats – and his former friends at the Fox News Channel? Will he enlist his former producer Mark Burnett for “The Apprentice: Celebrity Losers?” Or perhaps Donald Trump doesn’t know what to do with himself, other than tweeting, watching television, nursing a bushel full of sour grapes, and getting driven in his motorcade to greet the thousands of his supporters that showed up in Washington, DC on Saturday, November 14.
Lots of people are speculating about what Trump will do when he finally leaves, or is escorted from the White House on January 20. Whatever Trump and his family decide to do, you can bet it will involve keeping the Trump brand front and center in the media.
“Donald Trump is in pre-production right now,” Donny Deutsch, an MSNBC contributor, and a longtime friend – or maybe now an ex-friend -- observed the other day. Deutsch is convinced that he “is going to be starting the Trump Revolutionary Network, a subscription model; he’s already trademarked Telerallies,”
Deutsch, a branding and marketing professional, television personality, and former Chairman of the advertising firm Deutsch Inc., pointed out that if even only 10 percent of the 70-+ million people that voted for him subscribe to a Trump streaming service, at say $6.99 a month, that amounts to more than half-a-billion dollars. Deutsch added: “If you are in pre-production for that … what’s more compelling, If you are a loser,” or if you “actually held onto that furniture” and they were force to drag you out of the office?” If you are in pre-production for “Trump’s next act, this is what you would be doing.”
Trump Wants to Clobber Fox
According to Axios’ Mike Allen, “President Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network, sources tell Axios.” One source told Axios that Trump "plans to wreck Fox. No doubt about it.”
On November 12, Trump tweeted: “.@FoxNews daytime ratings have completely collapsed. Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose. The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was @FoxNews!”
Though neither the White House nor the campaign have commented on Trump's plans to start a competing news network, the president himself has not held back in his criticism of the network whose opinion hosts have been among his biggest boosters.
“It is possible that [Trump] could damage the Fox brand and peel away disillusioned viewers if he launches a media company of his own. It is possible that the right-wing media map, long controlled by Fox, is about to become balkanized,” CNN’s Brian Stelter, author of Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, wrote recently.
Axios reported on the possible plan:
There's been lots of speculation about Trump starting a cable channel. But getting carried on cable systems would be expensive and time-consuming. Instead, Trump is considering a digital media channel that would s stream online, which would be cheaper and quicker to start.
Trump's digital offering would likely charge a monthly fee to MAGA fans. Many are Fox News viewers, and he'd aim to replace the network — and the $5.99-a-month Fox Nation streaming service, which has an 85% conversion rate from free trials to paid subscribers — as their top destination.
During his post-election Tweet-storm, Trump has “also retweeted at least 11 posts alleging that [Fox] was “completely unfair,” “corrupt” and "dead."
Despite these tweets, Trump appears to have a warm spot in his heart for Fox’s Jesse Watters, Jeanine Ferris Pirro and of course Sean Hannity, who have faithfully stuck with Trump’s election narrative.
It is difficult to imagine that the oversized ego/personality of Trump would be comfortable tucked into the programming of such conspiratorial right-wing networks Newsmax – where Greg Kelly’s show, the highest-rated host on Newsmax, has gone from about 100,000 viewers a day on a good day to about one million viewers per night -- and One America News, which as of this writing (November 16) both networks are still claiming Trump has won the presidency.
Trump’s already constructed database of cellphone numbers and email addresses gives him easy access to potential subscribers.
As Brian Stelter pointed out, “almost anything is possible: A radio show hosted by Trump, an expansion of the Trump campaign's current webcasts, or a licensing deal with a company like Newsmax. What about a ‘Donald Trump Tonight’ talk show on Fox? Is that out of the question?”
Stelter pointed out that Trump was a longtime fan of Fox, even before his presidency. "People think he's calling up 'Fox & Friends' and telling us what to say. Hell no. It's the opposite," a former producer told Stelter. “We tell him what to say." Stelter added: “When I was working on my book, the Murdoch family friend told me of the relationship between Trump and Fox, ‘There was something in it for both of them. At the end of the day, business trumps ideology. Business trumps principle.’"
It is doubtful Trump will forsake the “Make America Great Again,” meme, but his post-presidency will likely be defined by “Show Me The Money.”
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