Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy begins his Nov. 21 column this way:
It is not every day the president-elect of the United States calls me. Last Tuesday, it was Donald Trump on the line. He thanked me for Newsmax’s early and fair coverage of his presidential quest.
I congratulated our nation’s soon to be 45th president.
Of course. Ruddy’s Newsmax has been an integral part of legitimizing the idea of Trump as a presidential candidate. That “early and fair” coverage of Trump largely consisted of Trump sycophant Ronald Kessler slobbering all over the guy prior to the 2012 presidential campaign. Newsmax also attempted to team with Trump to host a Republican presidential debate in the 2012 cycle, but it collapsed when most of the candidates bailed out amid rumors that Trump was considering a third-party candidacy.
Ruddy was similarly in slobber mode during this year’s election. While he worried about how Trump’s campaign might affect the Republican Party’s outreach to Latino voters, he also ran to Trump’s defense over the latter’s vile misogyny revealed in the “Access Hollywood” tape, insisting that Trump “should never have apologized” because the tape was off the record he he shouldn’t be held to politician standards for things he said when he wasn’t a politician. Ruddy toasted Trump’s victory, proclaiming, “For many years I would tell the president-elect that he had already won the ‘triple crown’ of American life. No other American could say that they were at the pinnacle of the business, entertainment, and political worlds. No one else.”
This is echoed in his current column:
I have known the president-elect for almost 20 years. This election victory clearly came as a surprise to him, only sensing victory the last three days of the campaign. We have talked frequently through the years. I have seen him up close and personal as few other journalists have.
This call was different.
He was remarkably relaxed and focused, as if his moment had arrived. Our private conversation lasted about 10 minutes, the details I cannot share here.
Suffice to say, I recently wrote in my blog this new president, as the first truly “citizen president,” has a unique opportunity to re-shape the country and the world.
Ruddy concluded with one last bit of slobbering: “There is no question President-elect Trump is on a learning curve. But he has handled new and different challenges before. Just look how he well did as a presidential candidate.”