“On the Holmes Front,” with Frank Holmes
If President Donald Trump has his way, he may soon have a new job: talk show host.
Trump has repeatedly brainstormed new ways to bypass the media and tell the truth directly to the American people.
Now he’s thinking about launching his very own radio show—or even starting a new, America First cable news network—while he’s still in the White House. The 45th president talked about hosting “a White House talk radio show” to keep Americans informed about the coronavirus.
Trump “envisioned his show as two hours a day, every day,” The New York Times reported.
Three Trump administration officials confirmed that Trump came to a Saturday morning meeting in early March to pitch staffers on a national town hall.
There would be no call screeners and no liberal media filter.
Five days a week, the American people could have a one-on-one with the leader of the free world.
There was only one reason Trump nixed the ideal … he didn’t want to compete with Rush Limbaugh.
“Were it not for Mr. Limbaugh, and the risk of encroaching on his territory, he reiterated, he would do it,” NYT reported.
But the potential is understably enticing.
American adults spend almost 12 hours a week listening to the radio—more than twice as long as they spend watching TV, according to the Nielsen ratings company. And news talk is the most popular format in the country.
Of course ultimately, the president settled on hosting his daily COVID-19 briefings, which have won a huge audience, but is a radio career or TV empire in the president’s future?
One person who hopes so is Rush Limbaugh.
Limbaugh has said if Trump wants to work in radio, he’ll roll out the red carpet all the way to the golden EIB microphone. “I think there’d be nobody better to fill my shoes than Donald Trump,” Limbaugh had said the same day the story broke. “I’ve often said nobody could, but if anybody could, it would be him.”
Limbaugh, whose radio show reaches 16 million listeners, said he would be “more than happy” to let Trump speak directly to his audience.
Rush rarely has guests on his show, but he’s interviewed both President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence numerous times.
And the president admires Rush Limbaugh so much that he awarded Limbaugh the presidential medal of honor during his most recent State of the Union address.
All Trump has to do is name the day, Rush said.
“If he wants to host it himself, he can do it,” he told his listeners. “If he wants to talk to you for two hours, he’s welcome to come here and do it anytime.”
“We’re always looking for guest hosts here,” Rush, who has announced he’s seeking treatment for cancer, added.
Trump has a little experience hosting radio. He recorded a daily commentary called “Trumped!” on Clear Channel Radio for about four years. The weekday program began on his 58th birthday—June 14, 2004—and ran for about 1,000 episodes before he called it a wrap in 2008.
This time, Trump wants to pull out all the stops to cut through liberal media bias. More than 90% of media coverage of his presidency has been negative.
The president has also talked about creating a full-scale television network to beam conservative, patriotic news to the whole world.
Trump has had a falling out with Fox News over what he sees as the network’s shift to the left. “Fox keeps on plugging to try and become politically correct,” the president tweeted. “They put RINO Paul Ryan on their Board” and hired former Democratic National Committee leader Donna Brazile, who got caught passing on questions to Hillary Clinton when Brazile worked at CNN. Behind the scenes, Trump has had given rave reviews to the conservative One America News and, according to some sources, it’s now his favorite network. “The people watching Fox News…are angry. They want an alternative. So do I!” he tweeted last Sunday.
Trump has talked about building a new network for years.
Last October, Trump said a more populist/conservative network would let America employ “some really talented people and get a real voice out there.”
In 2018, Trump tweeted that “something has to be done” about fake news, “including the possibility of the United States starting our own Worldwide Network to show the World the way we really are, GREAT!” So far, he’s settled for the daily Wuhan flu briefings and regular “Real News” updates hosted by Lara Trump on his official YouTube channel.
But who knows what President Trump might have up his sleeve.
After he leaves office in four years, he might just decide to spend the rest of his life revolutionizing the American media.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”