For nearly two years, journalist and author Matthew Lysiak has researched the media “genius” who inspired him to become a reporter: Matt Drudge, founder of the Drudge Report.
For his upcoming biography on the internet dynamo, The Drudge Revolution, he interviewed friends, family, co-workers, and even aides to President Trump to conclude in his even-handed work out in July that the reclusive Drudge is “one of the most powerful men in the history of media.”
It was that influence, he said, that drew Trump to Drudge in the 1990s and then much closer during the president’s campaign, when son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner steered exclusive information to the influential news site.
“Drudge was treated by the campaign and Kushner like he was the pope,” a former campaign official told Lysiak for his 261-page book published by BenBella Books.
When Trump won, Drudge was invited into the White House, and the president called him “a great gentleman.”
Fast-forward three years. The Trumpy headlines on Drudge’s aggregation site are gone, replaced by criticism of the economy and the coronavirus fight. And Trump, who used to flash copies of the Drudge Report at campaign rallies, tweeted last month, “I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others. People are dropping off like flies!”
The apparent breakup has shocked the political world, and everyone wanted to know what happened. Drudge isn’t talking. But Lysiak is.
I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others. People are dropping off like flies! https://t.co/L77SXS2mE8
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2020
His analysis: It’s business, not politics. “The reason the media can’t understand why Drudge has turned on Trump is because the fallacy is in the question. Drudge never was loyal to Trump. Or to any political candidate or party. His loyalty was always to one thing only — to the success of his website,” said the author of the well-received Newtown: An American Tragedy and the Hilde Cracks the Case series for Scholastic, written with his daughter, Hilde Kate Lysiak.
As an example, he said that former co-worker Andrew Breitbart was irked when Drudge took down anti-Obama posts he’d put up. Breitbart, who started his own news service but died in 2012, confronted Drudge.
Lysiak wrote in his book, “Drudge responded, ‘Obama is box office.’ For Drudge, there are no lasting political alliances. He has just been playing the numbers all along. The rest is pure theater.”
Another former associate agreed and told Secrets that web traffic drives Drudge, not politics. In fact, after Trump tweeted the breakup, Drudge issued a rare statement to herald his record traffic levels.
And nothing grabs eyes better than a crisis; none more so than the coronavirus, the type of Biblical catastrophe Drudge thrives on.
What could match that? The 2020 election of a lifetime and a Trump comeback, for which Lysiak expects Drudge to be in front of.
“I fully think Drudge will come back to Trump because four years of Joe Biden wouldn’t add up to as many page clicks. I think more eyeballs and box office are the same thing. Trump IS box office,” he said.
Lysiak added, “I think he’s a genius.”
