SO, ROGER RAILS, WELL, ADMITTEDLY, LEGENDARY
FOUNDER OF FOX NEWS.
HE DID NOT OWN FOX NEWS, RUPERT MURDOCH OWNS NEWSCORP, BUT HE
DID FOUND IT, AND HE HAS PASSED AWAY.
HE IS BUSY NOT ONLY FAMOUS FOR THAT, HE IS ALSO KNOWN FOR THE
INFAMY AT THE END OF HIS LIFE FROM THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT THAT
HE DID, BUT ALSO HIS POLITICAL IN – HIS POTABLE EXPLOITS,
FROM REAGAN, TO BUSH, TO DONALD TRUMP AS WELL.
A LOT OF NEGATIVE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT ROGER AILES, AND I WON'T
HESITATE, THERE'S THIS NONSENSE ABOUT THAT ALL OF A SUDDEN WHEN
SOMEBODY PASSES AWAY THEY ARE SUDDENLY A GOOD GUY.
THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS.
AND ARE WE GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT TODAY?
OF COURSE, HE DIED TODAY, SO OF COURSE YOU –
WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT.
WE WILL PULL NO PUNCHES FOR WHO ROGER AILES ACTUALLY WAS,
AND HOW HE DIED AT THE END WAS SAD, APPARENTLY A LITTLE
MISERABLE, AND I DON'T MOURN THAT.
SO, WE WILL GET TO THAT IN THE END, BUT THE UPSIDE FOR
AILES IS THAT HE WAS EFFECTIVE, SO YOU'VE GOT TO CALL IT
LIKE IT IS, AND WE WILL EXPLAIN THAT AS WELL.
LET'S BEGIN TO HIS PLANE TO YOU ROGER AILES LIFE, AND I SAID
THIS ON THE SHOW ALL THE TIME, HE WAS ONE OF THE MOST
POWERFUL MEN IN OUR LIFETIME, AND I ARGUED FROM TIME TO
TIME, AND WOULD STILL MAINTAIN THAT ARGUMENT TODAY,
PROBABLY THE MOST POWERFUL IN AMERICA FOR DECADES AND DECADES.
I WILL EXPLAIN TO YOU WHY RIGHT NOW.
AS WE GO TO HUFFINGTON POST FOR AN EXHIBITION OF HIS LIFE,
THEY SAY, "ROGER AILES IS WIDELY RECOGNIZED AS A MEDIA
VISIONARY WHO TARGETED AND UNDERSERVED SEGMENT OF THE
POPULATION AND SUCCESSFULLY PORTRAYED THE ESTABLISHMENT
MEDIA FOR MILLIONS OF VIEWERS AS HOPELESSLY LIBERAL AND OUT
OF TOUCH WITH THEIR CONCERNS WELL THAT IS CERTAINLY TRUE.
A LOT OF PEOPLE THOUGHT HE DID IT IN A DESPICABLE WAY, BUT
TO GIVE HIM CREDIT, CONSERVATIVES WERE LONGING
FOR A MEDIA ORGANIZATION, HE SERVED THAT AUDIENCE AND HE
DID IT WELL, AND HE'S GOT THE RATINGS TO PROVE THAT.
I DID NOT MIND FOX NEWS SERVING CONSERVATIVES AS A NEWS
ORGANIZATION, I'VE GOT NO PROBLEM WITH THAT.
I MINDED THE LIE OF THE FAIR AND BALANCED, WHICH WAS A LIE
ON ITS FACE, AND ROGER AILES KNEW THAT WAS A LIE.
IN FACT, I WANT TO GET TO HIS PLANS ON HOW HE HAD BEEN
PLANNING IT FOR ALMOST HIS ENTIRE LIFE.
THE POST CONTINUES, "BUT ROGER AILES DIDN'T ACHIEVE CABLE NEWS
SUCCESS BY SIBLEY OFFERING AN IDEOLOGICAL NARRATIVE –
ALTERNATIVE.
HE STOKED FEARS AND RACIAL RESENTMENT, AND IN POST 9/11
YEARS HIS NETWORK MALIGNED AMERICANS IT DEEMED
INSUFFICIENTLY PATRIOTIC..."
TO SAY THE LEAST, THERE'S MORE ON THAT AS WE GO THROUGH
HIS LIFE.
IN FACT, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU REMEMBER THIS, HE WAS AT
THE MICHAEL DOUGLAS SHOW AS A PRODUCER, AND THAT'S WHERE
THE ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT BEGAN.
HE WOULD HAVE LINES OF WOMEN THERE TO AUDITION, AND HE
WOULD BASICALLY SAY, IF YOU SLEEP WITH ME YOU GOT TO GO
ON THE SHOW, AND IF YOU DON'T, YOU WON'T.
THERE ARE COUNTLESS EXAMPLES OF WOMEN COMING FORWARD NOW, SAYING
HE DID THAT OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND SOME HORRIFIC STORIES
OF HIM TAKING HIS PANTS DOWN AND CHASING A WOMAN AROUND HIS
OFFICE.
AND THEN HE WENT INTO POLITICS.
IN 1970, HE WROTE A MEMO FOR NIXON CALLED A PLAN FOR
PUTTING THE GOP ON TV NEWS, IN WHICH HE URGED THE WHITE
HOUSE TO FULLY EMBRACE THE POWER OF TELEVISION.
I READ THAT NOW, IT IS AMAZING.
IT IS AMAZING FOR ITS RAW HONESTY, IT IS AMAZING FOR
HOW MUCH THEY PUT IT INTO EXECUTION, AND HOW WELL
THAT IT WORKED, AND OF COURSE HOW OBNOXIOUS IT IS.
SO, HE MEETS NIXON IN 1967,
AS NIXON IS ABOUT TO RUN AGAIN IN 68 – ACTUALLY, ON THE
MICHAEL DOUGLAS SHOW HE MET HIM, AND HE STARTS WORKING WITH HIM.
AND IN THE 70S
HE WRITES THAT MEMO, WHERE HE EXPLAINS THAT REPUBLICANS
SHOULD TAKE OVER TELEVISION, AND HE EXPLAINS THAT, YOU KNOW WHAT?
PEOPLE WANT TO WATCH TV, IT IS SUPER EASY TO DO PROPAGANDA
FOR THEM, AND THAT WAY WE CAN BASICALLY BRAINWASH THEM.
MORE DETAILS.
THIS IS A QUOTE FROM ROGER AILES IN THE MEMO: "TODAY
TELEVISION NEWS IS WHAT'S MORE OFTEN THAN PEOPLE READ
NEWSPAPERS, THEN PEOPLE LISTEN TO RADIO, THEN PEOPLE READ
OR GATHER ANY OTHER FORM OF COMMUNICATION.
THE REASON: PEOPLE ARE LAZY.
WITH TELEVISION YOU JUST SIT – WATCH – LISTEN.
THE THINKING IS DONE FOR YOU."
SO THERE IT IS, THAT WAS ROGER AILES PLAN ALL THE WAY BACK IN
1970, AND BOY DID HE EXECUTE THAT ON FOX NEWS.
SO HE KNEW, MY AUDIENCE IS STUPID AND LAZY, I AM JUST
WHAT YOU BRAINWASH THEM DAY IN AND DAY OUT WITH TELEVISION,
AND THEN WE ARE GOING TO ACHIEVE REPUBLICAN VICTORIES.
FOX NEWS HAS ALWAYS INTENDED TO BE A REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA
OUTLET, AND IT CONTINUES TO BE THAT TODAY –
AT LEAST THEY SHOULD BE HONEST ABOUT IT.
BY THE WAY, WHEN YOU READ THE DETAILS OF THAT MEMO, AND I
COVERED THIS WHEN I WORKED FOR MSNBC, AND IT IS AMAZING.
STUFF LIKE, DURING A CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY, GRAB A
KID TO MAKE YOU SEE MORE LIKABLE AND RELATABLE, BUT DON'T LET THE
KID PRESS THE BUTTON TO LIGHT UP THE TREE, BECAUSE IT WILL SEEM
LIKE THE KID HAS MORE POWER THAN YOU.
BUT IF YOU DO IT INSTEAD OF THE KID, IT WILL MAKE IT SEEM LIKE
YOU ARE NOT LETTING THE POOR KID DO IT.
SO DO IT AT THE SAME TIME, AND IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE DOING
IT TOGETHER.
SO, HE HAS BEEN THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN FOR ALL THIS TIME.
HE TOLD NIXON HOW TO BEHAVE, AND THAT HELPED HIM WIN, THEN LATER
GEORGE HW BUSH, AND THEN BEFORE THAT REAGAN, AND GEORGE W.
BUSH HE WAS ABSOLUTELY LITTLE IN THAT AS WELL.
AILES WAS CALLED TO HELP PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN
REPAIR FOR A 1984 REELECTION DEBATE AFTER HIS DISASTROUS
PERFORMANCE IN AN EARLIER DEBATE.
HE LATER WORKED ON VICE PRESIDENT GEORGE HW BUSH'S
CAMPAIGN.
GEORGE SENIOR TWEETED OUT TODAY THAT HE PROBABLY WOULD NOT
HAVE BECOME PRESIDENT WERE IT NOT FOR ROGER AILES.
NOW, I THINK THAT HE ACTUALLY HAD AN EVEN BIGGER ROLE TO PLAY
IN GEORGE W. BUSH'S ELECTION.
THIS IS NOT TALKED ABOUT NEARLY ENOUGH.
ROGER AILES HIRED A PERSON TO RUN THE VOTE COUNT IN THE
2000 ELECTION AT FOX NEWS.
YOU KNOW THAT PERSON WAS?
IT WAS GEORGE W. BUSH'S COUSIN, AND YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED ON
THAT FATEFUL NIGHT, WHEN GEORGE W.
BUSH LOST THE POPULAR VOTE AND IT WAS A STATISTICAL TIE IN
FLORIDA?
THERE'S NO WAY THAT ANY REASONABLE, OBJECTIVE NEWS
ORGANIZATION SHOULD HAVE CALLED THAT ELECTION EITHER WAY ON THAT
NIGHT, BUT THERE WAS ONE PLAYER IN SO-CALLED NEWS THAT WAS NOT
REASONABLE OR OBJECTIVE, THAT WAS INTENDED TO BE
REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA, AND BOY HE NAILED IT ON THAT NIGHT.
HE HAD GEORGE BUSH'S COUSIN CALLED THE ELECTION, AND THE
REST OF THE FAILURES IN THE NEWS MEDIA, AS USUAL, WENT ALONG WITH
ROGER AILES IN WHAT HAD TO BE – YOU'VE GOT TO GIVE HIM CREDIT -
HIS GENIUS PLAN THERE.
HE IS LIKE, WE WILL CALL IT FAIR AND BALANCED, AND THE REST
OF THE NEWS MEDIA, YOU ARE SMOCKS, AND HE PLAYED RIGHT
INTO HIS HANDS.
THERE ALL THE STORIES THROUGHOUT THE YEARS THAT CNN AND MSNBC
EXECUTIVES WOULD BE WATCHING WHAT FOX NEWS WAS DOING AND
WOULD BE LIKE, WE GOT TO GET ON THAT, WE DON'T WANT THEM TO
BE THE ONLY ONE REPORTING.
THEY PLAYED LIKE A FIDDLE.
THEY PANICKED WHEN THEY SAW THAT FOX NEWS WAS CALLING THE
ELECTION, SO THEY ALL CALLED IT.
LATER, WHEN ALL THE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS, WELL AFTER
THE ELECTION AND BUSH WAS INSTALLED IN OFFICE, DID A
RECOUNT OF THE WHOLE STATE OF FLORIDA.
GUESS WHO HAD ONE?
NOT JUST THE POPULAR VOTE, THE ELECTORAL VOTE, AL GORE, BY
EVERY METHOD OF RECOUNTING IF YOU RECOUNT THE STATE OF
FLORIDA.
HE HAD WON THE ELECTION IN EVERY WAY, BUT THAT NIGHT FOX
NEWS HAD GEORGE BUSH'S COUSIN CALL IT, IN A STATE THAT
GEORGE BUSH'S BROTHER RAN.
AND THAT'S HOW ROGER AILES STOLEN ENTIRE ELECTION FOR
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
SO, WAS HE MONUMENTALLY IMPORTANT?
ABSOLUTELY.
NOW, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE REST OF HIS CAREER, WHERE HE RAN
INTO A LOT OF TROUBLE.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON HOW WE GOT BACK INTO MEDIA AFTER
POLITICS: AFTER SHIFTING TO MEDIA IN THE LATE 1980S, AILES
SERVED AS TOP EXECUTIVE AT CNBC, AND AT THE CHANNEL AMERICA'S
TALKING, A PRESENTER TO MSNBC.
HE JOINED RUPERT MURDOCH IN 1986
TO CREATE FOX NEWS, WHICH TOOK OFF DURING THE CLINTON
IMPEACHMENT SCANDAL IN THE LATE 1990S.
IN THE EARLY 2000, FOX NEWS WAS THE TOP-RATED CABLE NEWS
NETWORK, A DISTINCT AND IT HOLDS TO THIS DAY.
AND AGAIN, CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE, FOX NEWS KICKED THE
CRAP OUT OF A LOT OF OTHER NEWS ORGANIZATIONS, BECAUSE THEY
KNEW HOW TO SERVE THEIR AUDIENCE.
ROGER AILES KNEW EXACTLY WHAT KIND OF RED MEAT THEY LIKED.
WHETHER IT WAS POSITIVE NEWS, NEGATIVE NEWS, THE RIGHT
THING TO DO, WHETHER IT HELP THE COUNTRY OR NOT, HE GAVE THEM
THE RED MEAT THAT THEY WANTED AND IT HELPED THE RATINGS.
AND REMEMBER, HE WAS AT MSNBC BEFORE HE WAS AT FOX NEWS.
ALL OF THESE MEDIA NETWORKS THAT HE WOULD LABEL AS LIBERAL, HE
KNEW THEY WERE ACTUALLY LIBERAL, THEY WOULD BE WILLING TO
HIRE HIM.
IN FACT, IN HIS 1970 MEMO HE TALKED ABOUT HOW THEY
SHOULD SKEWER THE MEDIA AS LIBERAL, AND THEY EXECUTED THAT,
AND THEY ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF DOING ROGER AILES'S PLAN.
AMAZING.
HUFFINGTON POST EXPLAINS THAT, "AILES ALSO HAD A REPUTATION
FOR PARANOIA AND VINDICTIVENESS, AND A TENDENCY TO SMEAR AND
ATTACK PERCEIVED ENEMIES, AND HIS WILDLY SUCCESSFUL CAREER
IS INEXTRICABLY LINKED TO THE SCANDAL THAT BROUGHT HIM DOWN.
FOLLOWING A LAWSUIT FILED IN JULY BY FORMER FOX AND
FRIENDS COHOST GRETCHEN CARLSON, DOZENS OF WOMEN CLAIMED
THAT AILES SEXUALLY HARASSED THEM AT VARIOUS POINTS IN
HIS BULL AND MEDIA CAREER."
OKAY, NOW, WE SAW WHAT ROGER AILES HAD BEEN ALL ALONG.
BACK AT THE MICHAEL DOUGLAS SHOW, AGAIN, LITERALLY TOOK
OFF HIS PANTS AND CHASED WOMEN AROUND THE ROOM IN HIS OFFICE.
AND AT FOX NEWS HE WOULD TELL WOMEN OVER AND OVER AGAIN,
YOU NEED TO SLEEP WITH ME AND YOU WILL GET PROMOTED, OR
IF YOU DON'T SLEEP WITH ME YOU WILL BE FIRED.
AND OFTEN TIMES, WOMEN WOULD NOT SLEEP WITH HIM AND THEN
THEY WOULD BE REMOVED FROM AIR.
SO ALL OF THESE FOX NEWS HOSTS, THE MALE HOSTS WHO ARE LIKE
HIM HE'S A PATRIOT, WHAT A GREAT HUMAN BEING, WHAT AN
AMERICAN WARRIOR – THAT'S BECAUSE HE DIDN'T TAKE HIS
PENIS OUT AND RUN AROUND CHASING YOU AROUND THE OFFICE.
SO, THAT'S THE PERSONAL LIGHT THAT WAS SO MISERABLE, AND
CRUEL, BUT WHAT HE DID IN HIS PUBLIC LIFE, LOOK, YOU
COULD SAY, HEY THERE ARE HONEST REPUBLICANS, AND THEY JUST
THINK THAT LOWER TAXES WILL GIVE US A BETTER ECONOMY AND
STUFF, BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT ROGER AILES DID.
HE DID THAT KIND OF PROPAGANDA AS WELL, BUT MAINLY HE
SAID, OKAY YOU HAVE TO BE WORRIED ABOUT THE OTHER.
FEAR BRINGS RATINGS, FEAR BRINGS VOTERS COMES LET'S GET THEM
SCARED ABOUT BLACKS, LATINOS, AND MUSLIMS.
LET'S GET THEM SCARED ABOUT GAY PEOPLE.
HE DID IT OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND HOW MANY SEGMENT HAVE
WE SHOWN ON THE YOUNG TURKS WHERE THEY BRING ON A BLACK
GUEST TO TELL YOU HOW WRONG BUT CULTURE IS, AND ALL THAT THE –
AND THAT ALL THE VIOLENCE IN THE COUNTRY IS FROM BLACK PEOPLE?
HOW MANY TIMES DID BILL O'REILLY GO ON AND TALK ABOUT TILLER THE
BABY KILLER UNTIL DR TILLER WAS MURDERED?
HOW MANY TIME DID HAVE GLENN BECK ON TO SAY THAT PRESIDENT
OBAMA HAD RESENTMENT TOWARDS WHITE PEOPLE?
HE HAD A MURDERERS ROW OF BIGOTS TO POISON THE CULTURE OF
AMERICA, THE MEDIA OF AMERICA, AND THE MINDS OF SO MANY PEOPLE.
SO NOW THERE ARE ALL THESE FOX NEWS ARMIES OUT THERE WHO THINK,
OH NO, BARACK OBAMA WAS NOT A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES, HE
WAS A SOCIALIST, HE WAS A MARXIST, AND THERE ARE SECRET
PLOTS TO BRING SHARIA LAW INTO THE COUNTRY, AND THE
IMMIGRANTS ARE THE COLONELS AND THE RAPISTS, WHICH OF
COURSE BRINGS US BACK TO DONALD TRUMP.
SO, HIS FINAL ACT OF COURSE WAS TO HELPING DONALD TRUMP BE
ELECTED PRESIDENT THIS TIME AROUND.
THEY EXPLAIN HERE, "AILES ALSO INFORMALLY ADVISED TRUMP DURING
THE
CAMPAIGN, AND THE TWO MEN WERE LONGTIME FRIENDS.
TRUMP DEFENDED AILES AFTER THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FOX
NEWS SURFACED EARLIER LAST YEAR."
OF COURSE HE DID, DONALD TRUMP WAS ALSO ACCUSED OF SEXUAL
HARASSMENT EARLIER IN THAT YEAR.
THEY GO ON TO SAY THAT 21ST-CENTURY
FOX ANNOUNCED IN A QUARTERLY REPORT THIS MONTH THAT IT
HAD TO PAY A TOTAL OF $45 IN COSTS RELATED TO THE
SETTLEMENTS OF PENDING AND POTENTIAL LITIGATIONS.
THOSE ARE RELATED TO ROGER AILES, AND BILL O'REILLY,
HIS ACCOLADE, WHO ALSO SEXUALLY HARASSED WOMEN.
AILES HIMSELF REPORTEDLY RECEIVED A PAYOUT AS MUCH AS
$40 MILLION.
SO, SOMETIMES THERE'S JUSTICE IN THE WORLD, AND SOMETIMES
YOU NEVER GET THAT JUSTICE.
SO, ROGER ALES BECOME AN INCREDIBLY POWERFUL AND WEALTHY
MAN, IN MY OPINION POISONING THE CULTURE AN POLITICS OF THIS
COUNTRY, FOR ALL THAT TIME AND UNFORTUNATELY HE WAS FAIRLY
SUCCESSFUL, BUT IN HIS AND HE DID NOT GO OUT WELL.
GABRIEL SHERMAN, WHO HAS DONE SOME BRILLIANT REPORTING ABOUT
AILES AT FOX NEWS, EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END: HE SAID,
"AILES WAS SPENDING TIME APART FROM HIS WIFE IN RECENT DAYS -"
GIVEN ALL THE STORIES ABOUT ACTUAL HARASSMENT, THAT IS
UNSURPRISING I SUPPOSE – "WAS WITH ALES HAD BEEN IN PALM
BEACH, ROGER AILES WAS ALL ALONE IN UPSTATE NEW YORK" ON CAUSE OF
DEATH, "TALES FELL IN PALM BEACH AND HAD A BLOOD CLOT FROM THE
FALL, HE SUFFERED COMPLICATIONS AND THEN EVENTUALLY PASSED AWAY.
SO, HE DIED AT THE END FAIRLY ALONE, HE FELL, AND
METAPHORICALLY COULDN'T GET BACK UP, AND EVEN TRUMP HAD TO
DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM AILES AT ONE POINT, SO HE WASN'T ADVISING
TRUMP, HE WAS AT FOX NEWS, HE HAD LOST ALL HIS POWER.
SO, I'M GLAD HE LIVED AS LONG AS HE DID, TO BE ABLE TO SEE,
AT THE VERY END, HIS DEFEAT AND HUMILIATION.
IT WAS A LONG TIME COMING, AND IF HE HAD A WORTHY ADVERSARY ON
THE OTHER SIDE IT WOULD HAVE COME A LONG LONG TIME AGO,
BUT THE DEMOCRATS IN THIS COUNTRY GOT TAKEN FOR A
RIDE, AND THEY NEVER KNEW WHAT HIT THEM.
AND THE SAME THING WITH MAINSTREAM NEWS.
HE PULLED THEM ALONG ON THAT RIDE, AND THEY WENT FULLBORE.
THEY DID EVERYTHING THAT THEY SAID HE WOULD DO.
IN THAT FATEFUL MEMO IN 1970, HE OUTLINED WHAT HE WAS GOING TO
DO, AND THE SMOCKS IN CABLE NEWS AND THE DEMOCRAT PARTY
NEVER FIGURED OUT HOW TO BEAT HIM UNTIL THE VERY END, AND
THEY DID NOT BEAT HIM, HE BEAT HIMSELF.
SO, ALL OF HIS MONSTROUS DESIGNS FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH HIM,
AND IF TODAY, THE MAINSTREAM OR CONSERVATIVES WANT ME TO
SHED A TEAR OVER ROGER AILES, WIPING SET THIS COUNTRY
BACK IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS, WELL THEY ARE GOING TO BE
SORELY MISTAKEN, BECAUSE I DON'T.
I LIKE THAT HE DIED ALONE AND HUMILIATED, AND IN FACT, ONE OF
THE LAST THINGS THAT ANYBODY HEARD FROM HIM WAS WHEN ASKED
HOW HE WAS DOING, HE SAID, "WELL, IF YOU WANT TO KNOW IF
I'M SUICIDAL THE ANSWER IS NO."
WELL, THE VERY FACT THAT YOU HAVE TO ANSWER THAT
QUESTION, AND SOMEONE ASKS YOU KNEW THE END OF YOUR LIFE,
HEY ROGER, YOU'RE IN SUCH BAD SHAPE, ARE YOU SUICIDAL?
WELL...
LET'S JUST PUT IT THIS WAY, FOR ALL THE CONSERVATIVES THAT HAVE
POISONED OUR CULTURE, WITH THEIR MONEY, THEIR GREED, THEIR
BIGOTRY, IF THE LAST SENTENCE OUT OF ALL THEIR MOUTHS IS,
WELL, I'M NOT EXACTLY SUICIDAL, IT'S NOT SUCH A BAD WAY FOR THEM
TO GO