An analysis of how the conservative media has helped Donald Trump

John Ziegler writes at Mediaite,

It is my view that it was in this period when the “conservative” media had their most influence on Trump eventually getting the nomination. Trump’s campaign was like a rocket ship where the most perilous moments are during liftoff. If the conservative base had not accepted him a serious or credible candidate, then he would have quickly crashed and burned because, without traction, the media oxygen which would fuel his flight would have immediately evaporated.

It should be noted that Trump had carefully cultivated this perception of conservative credibility well before his official campaign launch. He “bribed” CPAC with $100,000 in checks to have him speak there on a couple of occasions, which helped him get Mitt Romney to take him seriously enough to naively accept his 2012 endorsement at a public event.

All of this made it much easier for “conservative” media icons like Limbaugh, Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and even Levin to “play with fire” during the dull summer months of 2015 and seriously entertain the concept of a Trump candidacy. It can not be overstated that, given Trump’s very liberal history and lack of credentials, just how impossible this would have been for them to have even considered this reaction to his candidacy if Trump did not bring them celebrity/ratings during a down period.

My guess (hope?) is that none of them every really thought that the initial “Trumpsanity” was much more than a summer fling and that Trump would implode on his own, relieving them of any guilt/responsibility for having created chaos in the Republican primary. However, as the fire they created began to spread and gain strength, it became impossible for anyone to control, even if they wanted to.

In short, once the average Trump supporter bought into the bogus “conservative” media narrative about him which absolved all his many past sins, he was basically unstoppable. After all, if he really wasn’t one of “us,” or was somehow bad for the “cause,” surely Rush, or Sean, or Bill, or Mark, or Matt would tell them that. Right?!

Once his liftoff was given clearance from conservative heavyweights, the Trump phenomenon went into orbit with his total domination of the news media. Desperately thirsting for the ratings he brought them, the cable news networks (even the liberals at CNN and MSNBC) shattered all semblances of journalistic standards by allowing him to appear for unprecedented amounts of time, usually unfettered. This sucked up all the oxygen from all the other candidates in the far-too-crowded field. It also allowed Trump to laughably claim he was self-funding his campaign when in reality he was hardly needing to spend a dime because of all the free airtime he was given (this is just one of dozens of key lies Trump has told, which the “conservative” media has conveniently ignored).

Of course, the “conservative” media doesn’t really care if Trump beats Hillary. They “win” either way. They get great ratings through November and “worst case” they end up with Hillary to provide them with easy content for at least the next four years. Pathetically, that’s all they really care about. Hannity effectively became an arm of the Trump campaign. Limbaugh continued to defend him. Drudge waged a vicious overt war against Rubio and Ted Cruz and made sure (much like he did with Rev. Wright in his 2008 bid to protect Obama during the primaries) that no negative Trump stories could get any real traction. And Breitbart.com humiliated itself while disgracing the legacy of its founder by siding with Trump over one of its own reporters who had allegedly been assaulted by his campaign manager (which provoked five high-profile resignations from the website, which was, not coincidentally, never reported by Drudge).

...Of course, the “conservative” media doesn’t really care if Trump beats Hillary. They “win” either way. They get great ratings through November and “worst case” they end up with Hillary to provide them with easy content for at least the next four years. Pathetically, that’s all they really care about.

Read more here.