Ruddy: Ailes 'Loved America,' Helped Trump

Newsmax founder and CEO Chris Ruddy lauded Roger Ailes for not just changing the face of cable and television news, but also for impacting America’s “political transformation.”

In an interview with Newsmax TV‘s “America Talks Live” host Miranda Khan, Ruddy recounted a personal relationship with Ailes that spanned two decades. The former Fox News CEO died Thursday at 77.

“Roger loved America,” Ruddy said. “He was a guy that really loved the country; he had a passion for America. I think he dedicated his life to helping America.”

“Whether that was in politics as a Republican strategist or doing the Fox network, I think he really wanted to champion these things,” Ruddy said.

“If Roger hadn’t created Fox News with the help of Rupert Murdoch and [the] $1 billion check that Murdoch provided, I think that Donald Trump would never have been elected.”

And though Ailes “once told me he had never worked for a campaign that lost,” it was his creation of Fox News that was his proudest accomplishment, Ruddy said.

“He changed the face of cable news and television news,” Ruddy said. “Before that, we had ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN all doing the establishment line, Roger came in and said, ‘Hey, there’s millions of people in the heartland of America that don’t like the news they’re getting, they’re underserved, they’re not served at all in some cases. Let’s create a network that represents them in Washington, New York, and Hollywood.'”

Not only was his idea prescient, Fox “became the No. 1 ratings juggernaut,” Ruddy said.

“Fox does about $2.4 billion in revenue,” he noted. “It’s a huge audience out there that wants news that they’re not getting from the mainstream media. I think Roger showed that.”

“Roger Ailes has impacted the political transformation we’re seeing in America,” Ruddy said, adding Ailes remained a “driving force” at Fox for his entire career.

“He didn’t really have aback bench of lieutenants that you would need normally to run a business like that, or run a network,” he said. “It was Roger, he was the mastermind, he was pulling all the strings so to speak . . .”

“One of the things he always told me was that if he left Fox, the place would fall apart,” Ruddy recalled.

Ruddy said he believes “Newsmax is going to be a continuation of some of the things that Roger was trying to start.”

“It’s a huge audience out there that wants news that they’re not getting from the mainstream media,” Ruddy said. “I think Roger showed that, and Newsmax has done very well as a digital media company . . .”

Ruddy said he once tried “to work with Roger to bring him over to Newsmax.”

“He was interested for a while, and then he renewed with Fox, but I think we certainly are carrying the legacy of having more fairness and balance in the media, which is the important thing,” he said.

Source: newsmax – Ruddy: Ailes ‘Loved America,’ Helped Trump

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