Roger Ailes Captured the American Imagination, Put a Celebrity Conspiracy Theorist in the White House, and Lived Just Long Enough to Watch It All Come Undone
By Sady Doyle
Roger Ailes lived to see his vision for American politics become one of the most powerful forces in the world. He also survived just long enough to see that vision, and the media empire he created to advance it, go down in flames.
Since word of the Fox News founding CEO's death broke last week, there have been countless articles analyzing his influence on American conservatism. Monica Lewinsky put the finest point on it, perhaps, in the scathing "cultural obit" she published in the New York Times this week; Ailes pioneered "humiliation" news coverage, submitting her and the rest of America to round-the-clock dispatches on her every move: "My character, my looks and my life were picked apart mercilessly," she wrote. "Truth and fiction mixed at random in the service of higher ratings. My family and I huddled at home.... Meantime, Mr. Ailes huddled with his employees at Fox News, dictating a lineup of talking heads to best exploit this personal and national tragedy."
Ailes' legacy should be more secure than ever. In many ways, he contributed to Donald Trump's success; he watched the human manifestation of his worst impulses move into the Oval Office. Instead, his legacy is vulnerable for maybe the first time. And that has everything to do with the toxic and permissive culture of sexual assault he created at Fox News.
For the last year of Ailes' life, the news about him has not focused on his contributions to our news culture, but to the culture he fostered at Fox News. After former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sued him for sexual harassment, over 25 women came forward to accuse Ailes of everything from harassment to flat-out assault; one woman alleged that Ailes tried to make her "kiss" his genitals, then chased her around his office when she failed to comply. She also alleged that, when this happened, she was only 16 years old. Ailes denied the allegations, but it hardly mattered; he wound up having to resign. Bill O'Reilly, once Ailes' biggest star, is now himself entangled and disgraced in similar allegations to those that took his former boss down.
Trump was one of the only high-profile figures to defend Ailes over the charges of sexual harassment (and let's remember that he was dealing with many of his own); "Some of the women that are complaining, I know how much he's helped them…. and now all of a sudden they're saying these horrible things about him," Trump said. "It's very sad. Because he's a very good person." He has also clearly internalized Ailes' tactics. Trump's obsession with crafting a media narrative through a mix of blatant honesty and penalizing objective reporters—all the while presenting himself as the one trustworthy source in a world of "fake news"—is deeply Ailes-ian. Last fall, when most people believed Trump would lose the presidential election, he was planning a follow-up project: his own network, Trump TV.
Given their symbiotic relationship (or parasitic?), it's no great shock that their fortunes dipped one after another. The night Ailes slipped this mortal coil, a special counsel had just been named to investigate the Trump campaign's connection with Russia—a slow-bubbling scandal that, following the all-too-convenient firing of FBI head James Comey, has turned into an out-of-control grease fire. It's not just Trump who's implicated—Vice-President Mike Pence may have publicly lied about his knowledge of Mike Flynn's Russia ties, and House Speaker Paul Ryan reportedly moved to silence a Congressman who said he "think[s] Putin pays Trump." The entire Republican Party may soon be in a historic shambles. The man who spent his life trying to assure full Republican control over the media narrative died watching that narrative spin catastrophically out of the GOP's hands.
And at the same time, Fox News appears to be coming apart at the seams. When news of Ailes' harassment first broke, the complainants didn't just allege that Ailes was personally exploitative or inappropriate. They said that the organization was a culture built on systemic misogyny and sexual harassment—"a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny," to quote one such woman, Andrea Tantaros. Men throughout the organization, from Steve Doocy to Senator Scott Brown, were implicated. Bill O'Reilly—the jewel in Ailes' crown, the one face so associated with Fox News that entire shows were created to parody him specifically—was hit with a resurgence of sexual harassment allegations less than a year later, and O'Reilly, too, was fired.
Yet O'Reilly's sexual harassment allegations had been public knowledge for nearly as long as Fox News had been in business; if you managed to get through the 2000s without hearing any loofah/falafel jokes, you were one lucky girl. Ailes himself had allegations dating as far back as the 1990s. Both men operated with impunity, right up until they didn't.
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Their sudden downfall was evidence of a cultural sea change nearly as surprising as Trump's election. For one thing, it speaks to a very large and predominantly female resistance, fueled by (among other things) anger at Trump's own allegedly sexually predatory behavior, and how it had gone unpunished. After years of increasing feminist presence and media pressure, allegations like O'Reilly's or Ailes' have become toxic to advertisers. Where women could once merely rail at their screens or change the channel, they can now organize and take down the men responsible, even if those men were formerly thought to be untouchable. Similarly, Trump's administration—which should have been a crowning glory for the ideological forces he represents—has fallen to pieces in the face of that largely female opposition, all within just over 100 days. Men like Trump and Ailes can take power. But increasingly, they can no longer hold it—at least, not without a fight. The ground has shifted under their feet, making their victories far more fragile than they seem.
In the wake of Ailes' death those around him are rushing to sweep his "sins" or "flaws" under the carpet, to clear his name. The extent of his toxic workplace practices and even alleged violence are being swept to the side with disclaimers calling him "not perfect."
He wasn't perfect, but Roger Ailes was my friend & I loved him. Not sure I would have been President w/o his great talent, loyal help. RIP.
— George Bush (@GeorgeHWBush) May 18, 2017
But Ailes was not merely imperfect. He was a corrosive force on American culture, leaving rust and grime that isn't easily washed away. He was an epoch-defining force, even if his impact was almost wholly negative.
Eras end, and we are seeing the end of Ailes'. It's too soon to declare the end of the patriarchy—or even an end to the specific toxicity of Fox—but however conservatism, or American politics, look in the future, they will have to answer not only to Ailes, but to masses of women who just aren't interested in taking it anymore.
Sady Doyle Sady Doyle is the author of 'Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear ...
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