Politics

Pundits: Roger Ailes Responsible For Trump [VIDEO]

CNN

Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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According to some media personalities, former Fox News Chief Roger Ailes is responsible for the rise of President Donald Trump.

Ailes, who passed away Thursday at the age of 77, founded Fox News and, some say, helped bring conservative rhetoric to the mainstream.

“You don’t get President Trump without Roger Ailes,” CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer said. “He changed the kind of rhetoric that we hear about politics, heated it up.”

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Gabriel Sherman, who wrote a biography about Ailes, said the media giant “revolutionized politics and made it entertainment.”

“Fox News sort of tilled the ground and made Donald Trump’s candidacy possible so that a candidate with reality TV values could be accepted by the Republican base,” he asserted.

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Brian Stelter, in a voiceover on CNN about Ailes’ death, said Fox News made politics a “permanent campaign, lifting up Republican candidates and conservative policies.”

“Many media watchers believe that the conservative influence of Fox News paved the way for the election of Donald Trump,” he said.

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