Drudge Goes All in for Biden? Highlights Biden’s ‘Softer Side,’ No Mention of Hunter
Behemoth conservative aggregator The Drudge Report featured a slew of headlines favorable to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Thursday, with no mention of alleged scandals involving his son, Hunter Biden.
“SHOCK POLL: TEXAS TIED!” the top headline about the site’s masthead blared, with a link to a Quinnipiac Poll suggesting Biden was tied with President Donald Trump in the state. (The pollster’s final survey in 2016 gave Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton a 7-percent lead over Trump — more than three times greater than her actual margin on Election Day.) Above that, a picture of former President Barack Obama accompanied his Wednesday claim that Trump “emboldens others to be cruel and divisive and racist.” Below the masthead, the first all-caps headline promised, “FLASHBACK VIDEO SHOWS BIDEN’S SOFTER SIDE.” Other headlines offered “secret recordings” of First Lady Melania Trump, as well as the claim by Dallas Democrats that some of their signs had been set on fire.
Noticeably absent was any mention of Hunter Biden or the alleged scandals involving him. Stories published Thursday by Fox News and The New York Post — among others — noted allegations by Sinohawk Holdings CEO Tony Bobulinski that the Democratic nominee’s son set aside a $10 million equity stake in a Chinese company for his father. Bobulinski was listed as a recipient of emails related to the deal in documents published by The Post last week.
The omission is a stark contrast with 2016, when Drudge prominently featured negative stories regarding Clinton and her campaign chairman, John Podesta, whose stolen emails were published through the election. “WIKILEAKS DOWNLOADS ON PODESTA!” said one Oct. 7, 2016 headline related to the scandal.
Drudge has linked to seven stories related to Hunter Biden since the allegations were first made public by The Post on Oct. 14. Of those, one was a link to the report, while five sought to cast doubt on it. The seventh and most recent was a link to a Mediaite report related to Trump’s demand that Attorney General William Barr investigate the matter.
Observers have noticed Drudge’s story selection leaning more to the left over the last few years, but particularly as Election Day draws near. That’s prompted competitors to pop up, including Citizen Free Press and Dan Bongino’s Bongino Report. Combined with a changing news climate dominated by tech companies — including Facebook, Twitter, and Apple — the editorial changes have coincided with a decline in Drudge’s traffic. The still massively popular site has averaged roughly 25 million page views on weekdays over the last several months, according to Drudge’s own count, which is displayed on the front page. It received more than 47 million page views two years ago, on Oct. 21, 2016.
The change in tone has led to rumors that proprietor Matt Drudge might have sold the site, which he founded in 1995. However, observers warn against those rumors, and say the difference is related only to Drudge’s changing preferences.
“Matt is disgusted with Trump’s presidency,” The Drudge Revolution author Matthew Lysiak said in a comment to Mediaite. “Trump made the same mistake dozens of politicians have throughout the Drudge Report’s two decade reign in believing they had the loyalty of Matt Drudge. Trump feels personally betrayed, but he never did his homework in dealing with Matt. Matt isn’t loyal to any political party or ideology and never has been. Matt is only loyal to his website.”
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
