{"id":134072,"date":"2020-08-28T11:55:08","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T19:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=134072"},"modified":"2020-08-28T11:55:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T19:55:08","slug":"investigating-the-mysterious-man-behind-the-drudge-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=134072","title":{"rendered":"Investigating the mysterious man behind the Drudge Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Jewish Insider<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In his book, Lysiak notes that Drudge formed a close bond with Breitbart because of their Jewish backgrounds. \u201cBreitbart, who had been adopted into a Jewish family, would later tell friends, \u2018It is kind of weird that Drudge and I are both secular Jews who are interested in faith issues,\u2019\u201d Lysiak writes. \u201cIn Breitbart, Matt saw someone with boundless energy, a skeptical worldview, and who shared a passion for headlines and news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drudge\u2019s influence cuts across political divides. The CNN host and media reporter Brian Stelter \u201creally looked up to Matt,\u201d Lysiak noted. <\/p>\n

But despite his reach, Lysiak believes that Drudge has been given short shrift by the majority of media professionals. <\/p>\n

\u201cMatt Drudge is the godfather of all these websites,\u201d said Lysiak. \u201cBut I feel like he also doesn\u2019t get the credit he would normally get because he isn\u2019t highly educated, never wanted to go to the parties, didn\u2019t do that scene, didn\u2019t care if he was liked. For example, I worked at the New York Daily News for quite a long time. My editors were constantly refreshing the Drudge Report page, but they would never admit that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like people talk about him like he\u2019s a guilty pleasure,\u201d Lysiak added. \u201cLike, it\u2019s unsophisticated to say you go on the Drudge Report. You go on that site, you\u2019re going to see things about sex robots, natural catastrophes, aliens and then some hard news. You might get the impression that we\u2019re on the verge of an apocalypse every time you click on the site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Drudge hasn\u2019t done much to advocate for himself, at least publicly. According to Lysiak, Drudge basically bowed out of public view in 2007, when Philip Weiss published a lengthy New York magazine feature about him. The day after, Lysiak said, Drudge quit his radio show. Then, over lunch with a friend, Drudge decided that it would be best if his website didn\u2019t have a face associated with it. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe made a Batman reference,\u201d Lysiak said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s been dark ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drudge has been equally quiet about his faith, but Lysiak said that he has occasionally spoken about it. \u201cMatt definitely feels closely connected to his identity as Jewish,\u201d Lysiak said, adding that Drudge often travels to Tel Aviv. \u201cHe remarked to one of his friends that he feels a really powerful connection with the history\u201d of Israel, Lysiak said.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Drudge clashed with Fox News over coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. <\/p>\n

\u201cA segment on Fox News this morning where hosts laughed and joked their way through a discussion on political impact of terror was bizarre,\u201d Drudge tweeted at the time. \u201cNot even 48 hours since blood flowed at synagogue? Check your soul in the makeup chair!\u201d<\/p>\n

Such disputes are typical of Drudge\u2019s independent streak. Lately, he has turned a jaundiced eye toward the president, coverage that has earned him scorn from Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who in a Friday segment characterized Drudge as \u201cnow firmly a man of the progressive left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left or right, however, Lysiak explained that Drudge\u2019s motivations for posting negative coverage of Trump aren\u2019t simply ideological.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople make this mistake of looking at him through a political lens, but Matt Drudge\u2019s loyalty is to one thing, and that is his website and page clicks and anything relevant,\u201d Lysiak mused. \u201cIf you notice, people are talking about Matt Drudge again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Jewish Insider: In his book, Lysiak notes that Drudge formed a close bond with Breitbart because of their Jewish backgrounds. \u201cBreitbart, who had been adopted into a Jewish family, would later tell friends, \u2018It is kind of weird that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29205],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matt-drudge-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134073,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134072\/revisions\/134073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}