RUSH: From Axios: “’Trump Slump’ Hits Big Media.” And what this is about is that the excesses that the Democrats and the media think are Donald Trump are not shocking anybody anymore. And, therefore, the media going ape over what Trump says or does has gotten so old that people no longer need to tune in to Drive-By Media to hear about it because it isn’t news anymore.
The story revolves around the fact that some media got a huge ratings bump by covering all this Trump stuff from Russia collusion to the Mueller investigation to all of that. And the bottom line is that Big Media didn’t do anything to earn whatever increase in ratings or website clicks they got, and they haven’t done anything to hold on to those gains.
Fake news was a temporary thing. They’re out there promising Trump’s demise. MSNBC was totally lying to their audience, as an example, that Trump was gonna be perp walked out of the White House the next day, and they did this for two years. And they told everybody watching Trump was guilty, he colluded, they’ve got the evidence, Mueller’s got the evidence, Trump’s gonna be charged, Trump’s gonna be indicted the next day for two years.
And when the Mueller report comes out and Trump’s, quote, unquote, exonerated, then the audience just started abandoning MSNBC in droves, and the same thing started happening to CNN. Mueller’s appointment, in other words, gave the insanity a lot of energy.
Mueller’s appointment and the never-ending claims that he was gonna find it, he was gonna get Trump, Trump was gonna be history, Hillary was gonna be president again, the magic was gonna happen, that gave the insanity that was daily presented as news to the Democrat base, that gave it legs, that gave it energy, and it lasted until Mueller had to admit that there was nothing there.
Now, the point is that during this when all of this was creating a big ratings boost, say, for like MSNBC, interestingly, it didn’t really create a ratings boost at CNN. Their numbers have been in the tank for quite a while. But the New York Times had massive new subscriptions on their website. Ditto the Washington Post.
But while all this was going on, it wasn’t anything that the media was doing. Therefore, it was nothing that was gonna last. The media wasn’t getting new customers. The networks weren’t getting higher ratings with new viewers because, if anything, they were doing to connect with their audiences. So there was nothing to keep those people when the news went sour.
This was the failure of the Drive-By Media. They interpreted all of these new clicks, these new subscribers, the new ratings to their job performance, and it had nothing to do with that. It had everything to do with the fact that they were promising these people watching and reading that Trump was history. But they had not created any kind of a bond with these new viewers, new subscribers.
So when the news turned sour, bam, all these people that had tuned in and subscribed began to fade away. There were no compelling personalities to hold the audience no matter what the news was because this was an audience that had been lied to. An audience — New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, take your pick, they had been lied to multiple times a day, every day, for over two years.
Now we arrive today with a story of Axios: “’Trump Slump’ Hits Big Media.” Meaning, okay, so there’s no news today that Trump’s history. Trump isn’t gonna get impeached. Trump isn’t gonna get convicted. Trump isn’t gonna get thrown off out of us.
Axios says why it matters: “The shock factor around President Trump’s unplanned announcements, staff departures, taunting tweets and erratic behavior is wearing off, and media companies are scrambling to find their next big moneymaker.”
Note that it’s not them. Note they’ve gotta go out and find some third party to cover, some third party to destroy, some nefarious story to lie about in order to get their viewers and readers back.
The next paragraph in the Axios story is: “Driving the news: Executives tell Axios that Trump fatigue is very real: Interest in political coverage overall is down, which is spurring investments in other beats, like technology and the global economy. Democrats don’t appear to be the lifeline media companies are hoping can fill the gap –” They’re even lying to themselves about why the Trump bump has happened. Their claim, “Well, Trump’s no longer worth it. He’s not filled with shock value anymore. Trump’s old hat.”
That’s not it. They lied to their audience for two and a half years. They raised all these expectations that didn’t happen. Their audience knows they were misled and lied to, or at least if they don’t look at it that way, their audience knows they were let down and disappointed.
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RUSH: Here’s the key line in the Axios story, “‘Trump Slump’ Hits Big Media.” Quote: “Democrats don’t appear to be the lifeline media companies are hoping can fill the gap for diminished Trump interest. Executives say they expect this week’s debate ratings to be nothing like the ratings for the 2016 Trump debates.” (chuckling) So they were hoping that interest in the Democrat presidential primary would pick up the slack for the so-called drop in interest in Trump. There is no drop in interest in Trump.
What has happened is the people are tired of being (on the case of the left) either lied to or set up for big things and let down. They just don’t trust ’em anymore. It’s not that Trump has become (chuckling) more boring. They’re covering him. And the fact is, they’re admitting that the Democrats — (sobbing) the lone hope to bring back hope and salvation to America to get rid of Donald Trump — are boring to people. This is more worthy… This little paragraph in this Axios story is worth more than any poll right now to tell you where the presidential race in 2020 is. It isn’t good for the Democrats.
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RUSH: Now they find out their audiences have tired of it and the Trump bump is gone, from website subscriptions like at the New York Times to TV ratings at MSNBC and CNN, and the networks are concerned about it because they are finding that interest in the Democrat presidential primaries and debates is not nearly enough to make up for the loss in interest because of the so-called fatigue with Trump.
That’s not what the fatigue is. And I want to take you here to the last line of the Axios story. You know, Axios is a Millennial website, and they have a different format. They automatically assume that their readers don’t know jack. So they’ll run the first paragraph of a story and then follow the next paragraph, “Why this matters.”
And then they’ll run another paragraph, and then the next paragraph will say, “Driving the news.” Then they’ll run another paragraph of news followed by a paragraph which says, “Be smart,” which is telling their readers how to interpret the three paragraphs that they’ve published so far. And then at the end, the last thing in the Axios story is called “our thought bubble.” And here it is.
“The Trump bump that supported the news industry through difficult economic times is not sustainable, and media companies that were once reliant on politics coverage to get through tough times are going to have to pivot.”
“The Trump bump that supported the news industry through difficult economic times is not sustainable.” Why? See, this is what they won’t ask themselves. They’re gonna lie to themselves again like they’ve been lying to their audience. They’re gonna tell themselves that interest in Trump is faded, that Trump’s outrageousness is now passé, and that Trump’s indiscretions and his ogre-like behavior are no longer shock value, they’re no longer newsworthy. And so they’ve gotta come up with something to replace it.
That’s not what’s going on. There’s no reduced interest in Trump. The difference is, they’ve been lying about Trump for two years, they’ve been promising things to their viewers and readers that haven’t happened. The Trump bump that supported the news industry was nothing but a series of wild hopes and dreams of being able to get rid of the guy. And they’ve all blown up. They’re not gonna be able to get rid of Trump. Trump’s gonna be on the ballot in 2020. They failed!
But they’re telling themselves, that’s not what’s going on. Trump is no longer exciting. Trump is no longer outrageous. Trump can’t do anything to be more outrageous than he already is. “Media companies that were once reliant on politics coverage to get through the tough times are going to have to pivot.” Why hasn’t this happened to me? Well, no, I’m serious.
I talk about politics every day. I talk about the news. I talk about Donald Trump every day. Why hasn’t there been the same kind of phenomena happen here? Why have we not lost audience here at any point in 30 years? Our audience is still expanding. Why has this not happened to us? Why’s this not happened to the EIB Network, hmm? Answer is very simple.
These people have spent two years lying to their audiences every day about any number of things. They’ve been lying about how they were gonna get rid of Trump. They’ve been lying about how Trump was guilty of being a traitor. They have lied to the people about how Trump colluded with Russia, about how Trump was gonna get thrown out of office, that Trump was gonna impeached, Trump was gonna get convicted, Trump was gonna get indicted.
And it’s all been exposed as fake. And their audiences know now it was all fake. And because it was not real, that’s why it couldn’t be sustainable. That’s why it wasn’t sustainable. It wasn’t real! It had nothing to do with there’s lack of interest in Trump or what does this thing say? “The Trump bump that supported the news industry through difficult economic times is not sustainable.” The hell it isn’t!
What isn’t sustainable is fake news. What isn’t sustainable is out-and-out lying. I speak of things that are threatening the country. They speak of things that are threatening the country. The difference is they made it all up. They invested over three years in fake news story after fake news story after fake news story, and it all added up to what? The end of America, the demise of our democracy, the end of our politics.
Except none of it was true. None of it! The issues that I talk about on this program that are threatening the country are real. I don’t make them up, there’s nothing fake about them, and you are not made false promises to. I never promise you this or that’s gonna happen, never get close to it. I might, quote, unquote, guarantee a prediction, but not like these people had their audiences believing that Trump had done all of this and that it was only a matter of time before he was gone.
Now they’re finding out that the Democrat campaign is not nearly enough to replace what they’ve lost because their lies about Trump have been exposed, and they don’t have the slightest clue as to why. I’m telling you, this is more valuable information. It’s a greater indication of anything in polling data about the status of the 2020 election.
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RUSH: Now, I also want to go back to this Axios story, because, folks, it’s my business so it’s a little bit personal. I try to make it not too inside baseball. To me this is more instructive. This is more valuable than any poll that would be taken right now.
Axios has a story basically saying that the media, which went to town and got fat reporting all this crap about Donald Trump, reporting every gaffe, spent two years promising their audiences Trump was gonna be found guilty of colluding with Russia, every day, countless times a day, reporting on every indiscretion, every outrageous thing they could find.
Now they find out their audiences have tired of it and the Trump bump is gone, from website subscriptions like at the New York Times to TV ratings at MSNBC and CNN, and the networks are concerned about it because they are finding that interest in the Democrat presidential primaries and debates is not nearly enough to make up for the loss in interest because of the so-called fatigue with Trump.
That’s not what the fatigue is. And I want to take you here to the last line of the Axios story. You know, Axios is a Millennial website, and they have a different format. They automatically assume that their readers don’t know jack. So they’ll run the first paragraph of a story and then follow the next paragraph, “Why this matters.”
And then they’ll run another paragraph, and then the next paragraph will say, “Driving the news.” Then they’ll run another paragraph of news followed by a paragraph which says, “Be smart,” which is telling their readers how to interpret the three paragraphs that they’ve published so far. And then at the end, the last thing in the Axios story is called “our thought bubble.” And here it is.
“The Trump bump that supported the news industry through difficult economic times is not sustainable, and media companies that were once reliant on politics coverage to get through tough times are going to have to pivot.”
“The Trump bump that supported the news industry through difficult economic times is not sustainable.” Why? See, this is what they won’t ask themselves. They’re gonna lie to themselves again like they’ve been lying to their audience. They’re gonna tell themselves that interest in Trump is faded, that Trump’s outrageousness is now passé, and that Trump’s indiscretions and his ogre-like behavior are no longer shock value, they’re no longer newsworthy. And so they’ve gotta come up with something to replace it.
That’s not what’s going on. There’s no reduced interest in Trump. The difference is, they’ve been lying about Trump for two years, they’ve been promising things to their viewers and readers that haven’t happened. The Trump bump that supported the news industry was nothing but a series of wild hopes and dreams of being able to get rid of the guy. And they’ve all blown up. They’re not gonna be able to get rid of Trump. Trump’s gonna be on the ballot in 2020. They failed!
But they’re telling themselves, that’s not what’s going on. Trump is no longer exciting. Trump is no longer outrageous. Trump can’t do anything to be more outrageous than he already is. “Media companies that were once reliant on politics coverage to get through the tough times are going to have to pivot.” Why hasn’t this happened to me? Well, no, I’m serious.
I talk about politics every day. I talk about the news. I talk about Donald Trump every day. Why hasn’t there been the same kind of phenomena happen here? Why have we not lost audience here at any point in 30 years? Our audience is still expanding. Why has this not happened to us? Why’s this not happened to the EIB Network, hmm? Answer is very simple.
These people have spent two years lying to their audiences every day about any number of things. They’ve been lying about how they were gonna get rid of Trump. They’ve been lying about how Trump was guilty of being a traitor. They have lied to the people about how Trump colluded with Russia, about how Trump was gonna get thrown out of office, that Trump was gonna impeached, Trump was gonna get convicted, Trump was gonna get indicted.
And it’s all been exposed as fake. And their audiences know now it was all fake. And because it was not real, that’s why it couldn’t be sustainable. That’s why it wasn’t sustainable. It wasn’t real! It had nothing to do with there’s lack of interest in Trump or what does this thing say? “The Trump bump that supported the news industry through difficult economic times is not sustainable.” The hell it isn’t!
What isn’t sustainable is fake news. What isn’t sustainable is out-and-out lying. I speak of things that are threatening the country. They speak of things that are threatening the country. The difference is they made it all up. They invested over three years in fake news story after fake news story after fake news story, and it all added up to what? The end of America, the demise of our democracy, the end of our politics.
Except none of it was true. None of it! The issues that I talk about on this program that are threatening the country are real. I don’t make them up, there’s nothing fake about them, and you are not made false promises to. I never promise you this or that’s gonna happen, never get close to it. I might, quote, unquote, guarantee a prediction, but not like these people had their audiences believing that Trump had done all of this and that it was only a matter of time before he was gone.
Now they’re finding out that the Democrat campaign is not nearly enough to replace what they’ve lost because their lies about Trump have been exposed, and they don’t have the slightest clue as to why. I’m telling you, this is more valuable information. It’s a greater indication of anything in polling data about the status of the 2020 election.