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OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 7/21/16

Ailes, Trump, And The Republican Reckoning

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Reprinted from Media Matters

Roger Ailes

Who could have scripted a doomsday scenario for the Republican Party that would feature Fox News' Roger Ailes reportedly being ousted as chief of Rupert Murdoch's right-wing outlet amidst mounting allegations of sexual harassment, the same week political novice Donald Trump secures the GOP's nomination?

Last summer, both seismic conservative events were seen as impossibilities by many observers. Yet they're now unfolding in plain view and both threatening to do grave and lasting damage to the GOP.

Ailes and Trump are inexorably linked, and together they've become like a two-man wrecking crew, wreaking havoc on the GOP.

Trump's been denounced as a "vicious demagogue," a "con man," a "glib egomaniac," and "the very epitome of vulgarity" this year. And that's been from conservative pundits. The Trump nomination has split the GOP like no election in the last half-century. And Republicans owe it, in part, to Ailes. Fox News for years laid the groundwork for Trump's radical and improbable run.

Indeed, without Fox News' exaggerated support over the years, and without Fox providing endless free airtime in the form of promotional blitzes to tout Trump as White House material, it's unlikely Trump today would be perched atop the Republican Party. (Trump rival Sen. Ted Cruz lamented as the primary campaign came to a close that Ailes and Rupert Murdoch had "turned Fox News into the Donald Trump network, 24/7.")

The hate and paranoia that has permeated Fox programming, especially during the Barack Obama years, reflects Ailes' bigoted view of America and its supposed pending doom under Democratic leadership. Like his longtime friend Rush Limbaugh, Ailes has been a cancer on American politics for decades. He's built a career that thrives on fabrications and falsehoods and character assassination.

Ailes' brand of hatred and paranoia, once a small, ugly part of the GOP appeal, is now synonymous with the Republican Party, thanks to its nomination of Trump, who rose to birther fame among conservatives via Ailes' open door policy in 2011.

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