President Donald Trump has soured on Matt Drudge, a blogger who posts links to other stories on his website, the Drudge Report.
“I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others. People are dropping off like flies!” the president wrote Saturday on Twitter.
Trump wrote the comment in response to another tweet, which said: “Headline ‘NO PEAK YET: U.S. deaths set single-day record’ is sensationalistic & misleading. Deaths are a LAGGING indicator, by weeks. Daily new US cases of COVID-19 peaked April 4. New cases have been rolling over ever since. Deaths will follow the downtrend.”
I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others. People are dropping off like flies! https://t.co/L77SXS2mE8
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2020
The reclusive Drudge, 53, who hasn’t allowed a picture to be taken of him in more than a decade, wasn’t pleased with Trump’s comments and, in a rare move, sent an email to CNN with a statement.
“The past 30 days has been the most eyeballs in Drudge Report’s 26 year-history,” Drudge said. “Heartbreaking that it has been under such tragic circumstances.”
Drudge, who rarely writes stories himself, has been criticized by conservatives for the last several years for posting negative stories about Trump and his administration. The blogger, who lives on a compound near the Everglades in Florida, was an early supporter of Trump during the 2016 presidential election and after he was elected, became a frequent visitor to the White House, meeting with Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner, a White House adviser.
But as long ago as July 2017, Drudge was beginning to morph into a skeptical former fan of the president, CNN reported then.
Over the past several weeks, Drudge’s website has covered the White House with a more critical eye, more frequently drawing attention to news not exactly flattering to the president. It displayed as a banner headline a story about Trump certifying the Iran nuclear deal, something that Trump had vehemently opposed during the campaign. It has covered stories about the investigation into Russian election meddling with increased intensity, surprising some observers with recent banners about “THE EMAIL” and how “RUSSIANS PASSED DNC DIRT DURING JR. MEET.” And, last week, the site took a direct shot at the president’s lack of progress with a banner declaring former President Barack Obama to be “LIVING EASY.” It linked to a Los Angeles Times story headlined, “Trump set out to uproot Obama’s legacy. So far that’s failed.”
Even Rush Limbaugh, a longtime friend of Drudge’s, has commented on the change in the demeanor of the blogger, who is primarily an entertainer, posting stories about scandals and, for some reason, sex robots. Last August, Limbaugh told a caller that he had been repeatedly asked about the matter. “My email inbox every day, ‘What’s happening to Drudge, Rush?'” Limbaugh said. “And I tell people, ‘Have you ever heard of clicks?'”
It’s unclear why Drudge has turned on Trump. A new book due out in May by author Matthew Lysiak, titled “The Drudge Revolution,” says the blogger can be petty and often sheds former friends if he feels he’s been disrespected. Some politicos have also speculated that Trump abandoned his campaign promises, especially on building a wall along the southern border, which has drawn Drudge’s ire.
But John Ziegler, a conservative who was an occasional guest host on Drudge’s old radio show and writes columns on media for Mediaite, has a theory for Drudge’s 180-degree change.
“Matt Drudge loves chaos,” Zeigler told CNN last year.