The turmoil that’s enveloped the presidential campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump over the past month has changed the dynamics of his race against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Prior to the first debate, the two candidates were virtually even. However, due to a series of controversies, Clinton has taken a lead of as much as 14 percent in some polls.
With just three weeks left before Election Day, the belief by some political experts is that Trump will be unable to make up that ground in time to win the presidency. That’s led them to speculate that he’s looking past the election and laying the groundwork for a new television news network.
Offering substance to that report was the rumor that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has inquired with investment banker Aryeh Bourkoff about obtaining proper funding for a new network. While Trump has denied that he has any such plans, many of his recent comments during political rallies have focused on how unfair the media is with regard to his campaign.
Trump’s comments on a variety of topics have been explosive in nature since the June 2015 start of his campaign, but a recent firestorm has yet to be quelled. That controversy stemmed from the October 7 release of a 2005 audio recording of Trump speaking to then-Access Hollywood host Billy Bush. On the recording, Trump is heard making lewd remarks about women that included comments about sexual assault.
Since the release of that recording, Trump has offered a brief apology and attacked the infidelities of his opponent’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. At the same time, a number of other women have come forward to claim that Trump had groped them at some point during the past four decades.
The fact that a number of different media outlets offered a forum for the women to present their charges has caused Trump to label the media as a whole as dishonest or not worthy of trust. The level of anger he’s exhibited while issuing such charges are similar to those that have been uttered during the entire course of his campaign and is seen as a solid reason for such thinking.
During the primary campaign, Trump indicated that if he were elected in November, he would seek to amend libel laws. While he would have no authority to so if elected, he indicated that his goal was to make it easier to sue journalists for what he perceived as “negative, horrible and false” articles.
Bolstering the idea of a new network is the fact that the CEO of Trump’s campaign is Steve Bannon, who took a leave of absence from serving as chairman of Breitbart News to take the job. Breitbart has been criticized for much of the past year for their strong support of Trump.
Another alleged reason for the belief that a new network is being created is that former Fox News founder Roger Ailes is advising the Trump campaign. Trump has also denied any connection to the disgraced executive, who was forced out at Fox News after multiple reports of his sexual harassment of female staff at the network.
Should Trump lose and go forth with these plans, he still faces a formidable task of taking on Fox News, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Both networks would present news from a conservative perspective, though much of Trump’s base has gone far beyond that scope.
Trump could bypass cable television altogether and offer a subscription-based online network. That’s what media personality Glenn Beck did a few years ago.