“American Psycho,” screamed the banner headline on the Drudge Report this week underneath a photo of former President Trump swaying back and forth listening to music at a town hall in Pennsylvania, an episode that was widely panned by his critics.
Such mockery of the former president on the buzzy, conservative Drudge page would have been unthinkable in previous election cycles.
But blistering attacks on Trump and other MAGA stars has today become regular practice for Matt Drudge, known widely for his sensational headlines, oddball stories and attacks that have historically leaned against Democrats and liberals.
Media and political observers say Drudge’s sharp anti-Trump turn is a symptom of how much the digital right-wing ecosystem has changed with the former president as its main character and the extent to which Trump’s rhetoric has turned some of his formerly biggest boosters off.
“Matt Drudge and Donald Trump had a major falling out prior to the 2020 election,” one former conservative media executive familiar with the bad blood between the two told The Hill this week. “The Drudge grudge is not political, it is personal.”
Founded in the 1990s, the Drudge Report exploded in popularity with the breaking of the Monica Lewinsky scandal during Bill Clinton’s presidency, and at its peak was visited by tens of millions of media gossip and political news obsessed visitors per day.
Over the last two decades, its ability to send thousands of readers to web sites with its links has made Drudge a media powerhouse.
This has changed in recent years, and Comscore data shows a downturn in the site’s viewership, as has been the case with many right-leaning websites.
Still, Drudge is still a staple in the morning media diets of many news professionals, right and left, and political operatives looking for outside-the-box angles and chatter on the right.
Drudge’s no frills and black text headline culling aggregation hub played a major role in the 2016 election, when then-GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz complained it had become “basically the attack site for the Donald Trump campaign.”
But by the time Trump was in the White House, tensions between the then president and Drudge had reached a fever pitch, according to those who have watched the dynamic between the two sides sour over time.
The site increasingly featured headlines during Trump’s time in office complaining about a lack of funding for a wall along the southern border and pinned blame on Trump for an influx of immigrants entering the U.S.
By 2020, as Trump was running for re-election, tensions had boiled over, with Trump writing on social media that spring “I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others.”
Other up and coming digital provocateurs in the conservative media space, looking to capitalize on Trump’s sour tone on Drudge, echoed the former president and accused him of selling out for Democrats.
The Fox News host Tucker Carlson dubbed Drudge “now firmly a man of the progressive left,” and radio host Dan Bongino launched a right-wing aggregation website in 2019 called “Bongino Report,” to compete with Drudge directly.
“Drudge has abandoned you. I NEVER will,” Bongino wrote to his followers on social media at his site’s launch.
Today there is overwhelming evidence to suggest Drudge is unfazed by such criticisms, and has no plans to stop boosting Democrats, particularly if it means lobbing shots at the GOP’s top figure.
“WALL STREET: 72 PERCENT CHANCE SHE WINS,” Friday’s Drudge Report banner headline read underneath a photo of Vice President Harris being sworn in as VP.
Allies of the former president contend such framing shows Drudge is out of touch with modern conservatives and argue he has a diminished presence in the online conservative discourse.
“The Drudge Report has lost virtually all influence on the political right,” one GOP operative told The Hill this week. “It is no longer a factor in the conservative media ecosphere and has no sway in GOP Primaries anymore. Ironically, all the people who for decades loathed the Drudge Report are the very people keeping it afloat today.”
Drudge rarely grants media interviews and did not respond to a request for comment from The Hill. The Trump campaign also did not respond to a request for comment on Drudge’s attacks.
Some observers say Drudge’s pivot against MAGA could be the result of an oversaturated market for right wing political websites and pro-Trump social media platforms he helped elevate.
Boosting Trump when he was a political outsider was convenient for Drudge, these people say, but with the former president now effectively the GOP standard-bearer, painting him as an out-of-control establishment figure is a more desirable endgame.
“Drudge could be joining the ranks of former Trump officials and Republican luminaries taking a principled stand against the former president,” said Peter Loge, a professor of politics at George Washington University. “He could also be dredging for clicks. It could also be both, a case of the right thing to do being the profitable thing to do.”
Trump has feuded and made up with other major names in the conservative media ecosystem like Anne Coulter, Megyn Kelly and even Rupert Murdoch during his run in politics.
Still, few are optimistic the former president is likely to see positive headlines on the Drudge Report anytime soon.
“If Drudge wants to go back, he certainly can. But it’ll never be the same,” another conservative media insider told The Hill. “Trump changed a lot of things for us. Making a break from Trump the way he [Drudge] did spawned a lot of competitors. The space has just totally changed because of him.”
