Roger Ailes and others created a plan over 40 years to build a right-wing propaganda environment to insulate the next Nixon.
Posted by The MeidasTouch Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support4 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 40%
The MeidasTouch PodcastSep 15, 2026
Sources document that Roger Ailes devised a 1970 media plan for Republicans, titled "A Plan for Putting the GOP on TV News," and that he built a long-running media career for conservatives over roughly 40 years.
What was said
… If we were in normal times, he would be impeached and convicted. You know what we had during Nixon was at least Republicans who stood up and said, you know what, that's wrong, and right now we don't. And we don't because that was part of the plan. The plan was, and this was hatched by Roger Ailes and others, create a right wing propaganda environment to insulate the next Nixon. Well, you got someone a thousand times more dangerous and dumber than Nixon, and this plan, over 40 years, that metastasized, has shielded this from the right amount of scrutiny, while you have the other media and institutions were like, oh, what do we do …
The MeidasTouch Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Poynter and National Memo report a 1970 memo titled "A Plan For Putting the GOP on TV News" found in the Nixon Presidential Library, which proposed Republican-favoring television news and was linked to Ailes's work as a consultant.[3][4]
Supports. Reuters and NPR describe Ailes as a major force in shaping Republican media messaging over about 40 years, from Nixon-era consulting through Fox News.[1][2]
Context. A 2025 Yahoo piece says the common account that the plan was a post-impeachment response is misleading on chronology, though it calls the essence of the account "largely accurate".[5]
Context. No source states that the plan's purpose was to insulate a future Nixon-style president from scrutiny. That motive appears only in the claimant's own words and in low-credibility or unrated pieces, which cannot corroborate it.[6][7][8]
Context. The claim matches the extraction faithfully. Its referents (the speaker's post, Ailes, the 40-year span) are resolved from the passage, and the claim adds no new figures or actors beyond "others".
Sources
8 sources: 1 fact-checker, 1 tier 2, 6 not rated
- 1Loved and loathed, Roger Ailes transformed U.S. media landscapereuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2The Rise, Fall And Lasting Influence Of Roger Ailesnpr.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 3Memo from 1970: 'A Plan for Putting the GOP on TV News' - Poynterpoynter.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 4“With Television You Just Sit—Watch—Listen. The Thinking Is Done ...nationalmemo.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5Republicans Are Realizing the Limits of Their Propagandayahoo.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 6Acyn on X: "Brett Meiselas: This is something that has been decades …x.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 7Chapo Trap House - Seeking a Fren Episode 2 Teaser - Roger Ailes ...podscripts.co · not rated · cited for: context
- 8Fox News Was Never “News.” Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch Designed It as a Political Weapon. Here's the History.reddit.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post