- Drudge sold out
- Now run by a Weekly Standard alumnus
- Explains current Trump animus
- Also explains sites blood loss
We had this information in our ditty bag for a month now and neglected to mention it as inquiring minds wanted to know. Matters directly related to all the impeachment shenanigans conspired to put it on the back-burner. For months we have wondered what was going on and mentioned our dissatisfaction with the publication a time or two.
In reading this article at PJ Media, which mentioned the Drudge Report emphasis on anything negative about Trump, led us to the following bell ringer at Wikipedia (which actually goes back to at least December of last year): (Bold our emphasis)
Daniel Halper is an American political writer. He previously served as the online editor of the now-defunct neoconservative magazine The Weekly Standard until a management change at that publication in 2016 . . .
In 2017, he became an editor for the Drudge Report, replacing Joseph Curl. Halper’s hiring coincided with the Drudge family’s retreat from the public sphere (Drudge’s father sold his own site Refdesk the same year to the same company that also took over the Report’s advertising account at the same time, and by 2019 unconfirmed reports had emerged that Matt Drudge had sold the Report) [4] and was a factor in the Report having a substantial change in editorial direction, going from being in favor of Donald Trump to against him. [2]
If (or that) Drudge would sell to an entity with such an attitude can be taken several ways. Drudge decidedly changed and had it in for Trump and was willing to sell to antagonists. We find it difficult to believe that perhaps at least a consortium of conservatives more favorable to Trump would not have been interested at a reasonable price. Then again maybe the new owners way outbid any others thinking Drudge’s following was built in. Drudge took the money. We have seen references to extensive drops in viewership.
