We’re still more than two months away from Election Day, and according to the polls, Donald Trump has a better chance of winning a Grammy for best rap album than he does of winning the presidency. By any measure, Trump is running perhaps the worst presidential campaign of modern times–so bad, in fact, that people are speculating if it isn’t all a plot to get Hillary Clinton elected. (For the record, it’s not. Trump is just a really bad candidate.)
But what if the White House isn’t really Trump’s long-term goal? After all, Trump has openly mused that he could make a lot of money running for president, and, other than domination, money seems to be all he really cares about. He’s already paid his own companies more than $6 million and has said that he will revive Trump University, for which he is being sued for fraud.
But the real tip off came in the past few days, with the shake up in Trump’s campaign. Trump has now entrusted his future to Steve Bannon, a loose cannon from the nutty far-right website Breitbart News. Bannon, who has been dubbed “the most dangerous political operative in America,” has zero campaign experience. What he has experience doing is creating products that cater to the political fringe.
Also jumping onto the S.S. Trump Titanic is Roger Ailes, the former head of Fox News and alleged serial sexual harasser. Ailes made Fox News what is is today–which is a repository of kooky and homophobic tropes.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Breitbart News has always been the kind of site that makes the Fox News look like The New York Times. Named after its founder, Andrew Breitbart, the site published Rep. Andrew Weiner’s crotch shots (Hear that, Peter Thiel?), led the campaign against House Speaker John Boehner and created faux scandals about the Obama administration, some of them hilariously wrong.
Bannon was quick to throw his support behind Trump, which certainly helped drive readership in the site (and possibly dollars–there are reports that Trump has paid Breitbart for the privilege). When Trump’s then-campaign manager, Corey Lewandoski, was accused of pushing a Breitbart report at a rally, the site sided with Breitbart. Indeed, the site actually trashed its own reporter, Michelle Fields, and defended Lewandoski.
Under Bannon, Breitbart has become the favored news outlet of the alt-right movement, a vicious stew of white supremacy, anti-Semitism, misogyny and homophobia. (Here’s an example of the last one.)
When Fox News first emerged, it was controversial and edgy. After two decades on the air, it’s shedding viewers (well, actually, they’re dying–it’s an old folks channel). The channel has taken a few tentative steps to catch up with the times, such as promoting Megyn Kelly, who seems less enamored of the nuttier ideas floating around the network.
But now Fox News is just one of the big news channels. By pushing the accepted limits of journalism, the network has now become identified with the mainstream. Which is the death knell for an organization that depends upon rage against the mainstream.
In short, Fox News is suffering the same fate as the Republican party establishment. Having fed the public a steady diet of the craziest, most extreme beliefs for years, it now finds that people actually take the crazy seriously. And there are even crazier outlets for people to turn to that make Fox News look tame by comparison. Like Breitbart.
Or like the Trump News Channel.
By picking a feud with Fox News during the primaries, Trump proved that the network had lost its political clout. Now he’s using his campaign to put the infrastructure in place for a rival network. Ailes has fans among a clutch of high-profile Fox News personalities who could be enticed to leave the network. Bannon can leverage the Breitbart fan base to create a ready-made audience for a new channel. And Trump will need a high-profile venue to satisfy his thirst for publicity.
So if you think Trump’s defeat in November would be good news, don’t forget that it may be accompanied by bad news: a network led by some of the most dangerous people in politics that will feed the worst impulses of a group that thrives on hate.
Photo credit: Mike Licht
leobaga
Queerty is the most biased gay site there is. Question the homophobic countries that donated to the fraud Clinton foundation like Saudi Arabia. Hillary only cares about money. She will never speak out against Dubai, also one of her donors, to stop discriminating trans and gays!
Trump has been a supporter of gay marriage from the beginning. He only changed his position during the primaries to win the nom. Now that he’s the nominee, he revealed his true beliefs — he will protect gay rights.
No republican nominee has ever acknowledged gay rights during the convention. That takes courage. See his moving speech at the end: https://youtu.be/c3sRAA1o4t0
Mo Bro
If the author of this hit-piece thinks Fox News is anti-gay, then he obviously doesn’t watch it and only drinks the Kool-Aid that’s being spoon-fed to him by the institutional left. For the record . . .
Guy Benson
Sally Kohn
Tammy Bruce
Harvey Levin
Bill Schulz
. . . are all openly gay people who are regularly invited on to FNC to contribute their opinions. And I can’t recall a single gay issue that FNC as an entity has been against, ca you? So . . . a predictable fail.
MediaGuy
Queerty’s extremist partisan politics are really showing here. You guys should reel it in a bit because you’re beginning to look like you’ve lost your minds. What’s next, tin foil hats with the Queerty logo?
CWM85
Trump has driven the writers on this site really more insane. This trying to make Trump the hitler of gays is just not working out and far from truth. Now how about you guys do an article on Hillary ties to middle east countries that execute gays and imprison them. Why is she so silent about that? Hillary is no ally to glbt people. She has lied, flip flopped on many communities through out the years. She supported her husbands anti gay laws in the 90’s. She found the light when it was no longer popular.
n1spirit
First off, I’m queer as a 3-dollar bill (and you jackasses don’t speak for me). That comment is targeted toward Queerty. Pull your heads out of your a$$es for once and quit “FOLLOWING” the narrative. Try to actually THINK for yourselves for a change, wake up and look at what is going on in the world around you. Try not to indulge in your agenda-driven need to rail against “the man” and “the establishment” for a moment and recognize that WE, AS LGBTQ PERSONS, ARE A PART OF THE LARGER COMMUNITY THAT IS “MANKIND.” (Not everybody is against us and [shock-and-awe-moment] NOT every conservative is against us! Some are, some aren’t.) Yes, as a community we’ve been discriminated against in the past. Discrimination still exists (albeit to a lesser extent) today. That said, I’m damned sick and tired of dipweeds who swallow the pills (aka “drinking the KoolAid) dispensed by the ridiculously out-of-touch extreme left (who are no better than the extreme right). Do you “actually believe” this bullsh#t claim that Trump has no chance of winning in November? (I think you might want to start stocking up on a bit of beer, wine and liquer — because you are most definitely in for a SURPRISE.) Do you “honestly think” Queerty is any better than Brietbart News? (ACTUALLY, you should be so lucky; you’re not.) I’ve been a registered Democrat since coming of age to vote but THIS queer won’t be voting for that “criminal” and “hypocrite” (Hilary). Firstly, she IS a criminal! Secondly, she is NOT our friend! That woeful b**** has accepted more donations from those who would prefer to see us thrown off the tops of buildings and stoned to death than any other politician alive today. It’s a sad state of affairs that Hilary’s ass-crack has morphed into such prime real estate that writers for Queerty will have their noses shoved up within its midst for years to come. Shame on you.