Where by Fox News and Donald Trump Took Us

Above Memorial Day weekend in 2011, a caravan of journalists chased her up the East Coast for the duration of a six-day trip from Washington to New Hampshire, believing she may use the situation to announce that she would run against Mr. Obama. The vacation also provided a dinnertime end at Trump Tower, the place she and its most popular resident stepped out in front of the paparazzi on their way to get pizza.

She would not reveal her intentions right up until later on that calendar year, in Oct. And when she did, she broke the news on Mark Levin’s radio show — not on Fox News. It was a slight that infuriated Mr. Ailes, who experienced been shelling out her $1 million a calendar year with the expectation that it would pay out off with the excitement and large rankings that form of announcement could generate.

The Void Trump Stuffed

There were symptoms at the time that Mr. Trump was starting to fill the void in Fox’s protection — and in conservative politics — that would exist with out Ms. Palin center phase. He experienced been getting a sizeable quantity of protection from the community lately for his fixation on wild rumors about Mr. Obama’s track record.

One particular interview in March 2011 on “Fox & Friends” — the display known inside the network to be these a near reflection of Mr. Ailes’s most loved tale strains that workers identified as it “Roger’s daybook” — was common of how Mr. Trump used his media system to endear himself to the tough suitable. He spent an total segment that early morning chatting about means that the president could be lying about becoming born in the United States. “It’s turning out to be a quite major offer because men and women now are contacting me from all more than saying, ‘Please really do not give up on this difficulty,’” Mr. Trump boasted.

Three times soon after that interview, the network announced a new phase on “Fox & Friends”: “Mondays With Trump.” A promo teased that it would be “Bold, brash and never ever bashful.” And it was on “Fox & Friends” where by Mr. Trump appeared immediately after his pizza outing with Ms. Palin in the spring, chatting up his prospective clients as a contender for the White Property more than hers.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Ailes had been, at initially, seemingly well matched.

Even though he experienced economical motivations for marketing sensational but misleading stories, Mr. Ailes also seemed to be a accurate believer in some of the darkest and most strange political conspiracy theories.

In 2013, Mr. Obama himself elevated the issue with Michael Clemente, the Fox News executive vice president for information, inquiring him at the White Household Correspondents’ Supper irrespective of whether Mr. Ailes was totally purchased-in on the conspiracies in excess of the president’s birthplace. “Does Roger definitely imagine this things?” Mr. Obama questioned. Mr. Clemente answered, “He does.”