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She doesn’t know precisely why CNN boss Jeff Zucker was forced out, but Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote on Friday that “Jeff Zucker’s legacy is defined by his promotion of Donald Trump.” All of CNN’s horror-movie coverage was never enough. Zucker, as much as any other person in the world, created and burnished the Trump persona — first as a reality-TV star who morphed into a worldwide celebrity, then as a candidate for president who was given large amounts of free publicity. The through line? Nothing nobler than TV ratings, which always were Zucker’s guiding light, his be-all and end-all and, ultimately, his fatal flaw. Well, if we are to judge Zucker by the TV ratings then he should be viewed as an abject failure since CNN’s ratings have gone straight into the toilet over the past year. Two decades ago, as an NBC executive searching for a way to goose the floundering network’s popularity, he gave the green light to a reality show, “The Apprentice,” featuring a flashy mogul whose soon-to-be-famous tagline was “You’re fired.” Trump had a checkered history of bankruptcies, racism and failed real estate projects, but his confident bluster made him a natural on television. And exactly how would Zucker know that Trump would become a presidential candidate over 10 years after The Apprentice first aired? Then came 2015: CNN infamously took his campaign speeches live, sometimes going so far as to broadcast images of an empty lectern with embarrassing chyrons such as “Breaking News: Standing By for Trump to Speak.” You can’t buy that kind of media. CNN did that, and so did MSNBC. At that time, Hillary Clinton and the Democrats loved the idea of running against Trump, or at least damaging the Republicans by promoting Trump. Sullivan then insists Trump surrogates […]
They’re Trying to Shut Us Down
Over the last several months, I’ve lost count of how many times the powers-that-be have tried to shut us down. They’ve sent hackers at us, forcing us to take extreme measures on web security. They sent attorneys after us, but thankfully we’re not easily intimidated by baseless accusations or threats. They’ve even gone so far as to make physical threats. Those can actually be a bit worrisome but Remington has me covered.
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JD Rucker
