For decades, journalist Matt Drudge has stirred controversy as the creator of the conservative news website, Drudge Report. The journalist’s namesake news platform made a name for itself amid the Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton sex scandal, becoming the first news source to break the story in 1995.
Since then, Drudge Report has continued to weigh in on the political landscape, becoming notorious for its sensational headlines and attacks that have historically leaned against the Democratic party and its supporters.
With these conservative-leaning origins, Drudge Report became one of the leading champions of Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, going all in on its support of the president-elect well before he was backed by other right-wing entities like Fox News. However, a quick scan of Drudge Report’s more recent coverage will reveal that his tune has noticeably changed on the former president, as the website appeared to jump ship in favor of Trump’s former opponent, Kamala Harris.
So what is behind Drudge Report’s changing sentiment around Trump, and has the president-elect had anything to say about it?
The Matt Drudge grudge
Many political pundits have noticed that during this most recent presidential election cycle, Drudge Report was staunchly opposed to Trump’s bid for the White House. One headline even described the president-elect as an “American Psycho,” while others showed support for Harris as his rival. These kinds of Trump attacks — which came to include lambasting MAGA stars like Megyn Kelly — sat in stark opposition to Drudge Report’s previous coverage of Trump, which heavily favored the Republican politician.
Drudge Report was so supportive of Trump that his Republican rival, Ted Cruz, once called out the news website for its bias and “an attack site for the Donald Trump campaign.” That changed when Trump had a falling out with Drudge in 2020. Insiders have claimed the pair fought about Trump’s inability to get funding for the border wall he proposed that year, a campaign promise many Drudge Report readers were passionate about.
These souring tensions — which were also reportedly due to Trump supposedly allowing for an influx of immigrants during his first term — bled into the Drudge Report home page. Over time, the journalist’s coverage of Trump grew more critical, to the point where the president-elect himself was forced to respond. “I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others,” Trump wrote on social media in 2020.” That sentiment was echoed by Trump loyalist Tucker Carlson who, in response to Drudge Report’s souring view of the former president, saying the journalist is “now firmly a man of the progressive left.”
Beyond the personal feud between Trump and Drudge, some pundits have suggested that Drudge Report’s sharp turn in its coverage of the Republican Party might also boil down to a business decision. During Trump’s first presidential campaign, Drudge Report’s backing of a political outsider was convenient and drove traffic to the new site through rage-bait and being one of the only sources of pro-Trump coverage.
Now the news ecosystem is oversaturated by pro-Trump outlets, making the coverage Drudge Report once published less competitive. The sharp pivot against MAGA, including painting Trump as an out-of-touch establishment figure, might be seen as a more desirable and fruitful strategy for Drudge, which could explain the site’s softening views on the Democratic Party in recent years.
While he is notoriously reclusive, Drudge did give a rare interview back in 2020, in which he appeared to distance himself from the figure he once championed in 2016. When asked by the interviewer why he supported Trump so fervently in his first campaign, Drudge said “that was three years ago”. Well, I guess opinions can change, especially when there’s a nice financial incentive to do so!