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The King of All Media doesn’t think President Donald Trump would have much success in running a news network.
“ ‘That’ll fail inside of a year like all the other businesses. This is just insanity what’s going on.’ ”
That was Howard Stern speaking with his signature candor on his SiriusXM SIRI, +0.86% show Monday, as reported by the New York Daily News. Stern, 66, was addressing the reports that Trump allies have looked into creating a news outlet to rival Fox News, which some have dubbed “Trump TV,” especially after Trump’s base has soured on Fox for joining outlets including the Associated Press in naming Joe Biden the winner of the U.S. presidential election. (MarketWatch parent company News Corp and Fox News-parent Fox Corp. share common ownership.)
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that allies for Trump had explored purchasing Newsmax TV, a fledgling pro-Trump cable channel. But the network’s CEO said on Sunday that “Newsmax would never become ‘Trump TV,’” although he’s open to giving Trump a weekly show once he leaves the White House.
That’s just as well, Stern said, because he doesn’t see President Trump winning at this any more than he says that Trump won the election.
“He thinks running the country is hard — wait ‘til he has to run a news network,” said Stern, 66.
And Stern remarked on Trump’s tumultuous relationship with Fox News. While the network’s opinion hosts like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham largely support the president, he’s been quick to lash out at the media company anytime he deems its news coverage to be unfavorable toward him. For example, he criticized Fox on Twitter TWTR, +0.91% over the weekend, and encouraged his followers to switch to Newsmax and fellow right-wing channel One America News Network (OANN) instead.
“The president all weekend was busy tweeting about Fox News,” Stern said. “He’s mad at them because they actually had some reality over there.”
And Stern called on Trump to drop his unproven claims of voter fraud, and concede the election to Biden. “For once do something good for the country, calm down your f—-ing loony hillbilly friends and tell them you lost the election and you’re going to help the transition,” Stern said. “These loonies who follow you are all worked up; they think something was taken from them.”
Stern and Trump have had a friendlier relationship over the years, with the radio host interviewing the reality star and real estate developer more than 40 times before the latter became the commander-in-chief. “It was a difficult thing because there’s a part of me that really likes Donald, but I just don’t agree politically,” Stern told the Hollywood Reporter last year. He also revealed that he tried to convince Trump not to run for president, and that he believed that Hillary Clinton’s refusal to come on his show contributed to her loss.
Read:Howard Stern recollects how he tried to convince Trump not to run for president
Stern isn’t known for pulling punches, and he’s expressed his disapproval of Trump’s action’s at times during the president’s first term — as well as his dislike for many of Trump’s supporters. “I don’t hate Donald, I hate you for voting for him, for not having intelligence,” Stern said on his show this past May. “For not being able to see what’s going on with the coronavirus, for not being able to see what the Justice Department is doing. I hate you, I don’t want you here.”
Meanwhile, contract renewal talks between Stern and Sirius XM continue to heat up. While Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the satellite radio station was close to giving Stern more than $120 million a year to keep him there, Stern shot that down on his show by saying that he and his agent were “baffled” by the report, and hadn’t seen such a contract yet. Stern’s previous five-year contracts have reportedly been worth $80 million and $100 million a year, and his current contract lapses at the end of this year. But outgoing Sirius chief executive Jim Meyer said on a recent call with investors that they are “making significant progress” in a deal to extend Stern’s contract.
