Bannon, Carlson and... Liz Truss? A Look Inside the One-Time PM's Foray for the Maga Movement
Liz Truss, launched the first edition of her online program with a pledge to expose "malicious actors" striving to undermine the UK, United States and European nations. She explained she would lay bare how an "global web of progressives operate to subvert popular rule and the public's choice."
"We will examine the Maga phenomenon and observe how it can be achieved in Britain," the former PM stated. "Our guests will include the prominent voices of the Make America Great Again campaign."
In advance of the series premiere, there was one particularly enthusiastic supporter. "This represents the dawn of a kind of political shift," said the controversial US journalist. His media outlet Just the News will publish the Truss's new podcasts.
Forging Alliances in the Conservative Media Landscape
UK-based allies, such as a counselor supportive of Reform, have also helped her set up the Truss's program. The setup is professional, if basic. The show has attracted ten thousand followers in her initial seven days and her premiere achieved tens of thousands of views across the same period.
This represents a small opening, but in aligning with the journalist, she is being entering a established right-wing media network producing and amplifying pro-Trump narratives. Its obsessions involve accusations of information control by the mainstream media and a desire to dismantle a conspiratorial 'deep state' – which Truss blames for the swift end of her disastrous time in office.
"Just the News is not famous outside of the Maga-verse, but it does have influence there, primarily thanks to John Solomon, who offers opinions on pro-Trump shows like the program hosted by Steve Bannon and has even questioned Trump," said an anthropology expert, who has analyzed the Maga movement.
A Contentious Ally
Her effort to import American conservative media to the UK has aligned her more closely to controversial figures such as the journalist.
He established his media outlet after criticism after he was accused of promoting false stories about the President's actions in the Ukraine, as well as contentious articles about ex-ambassador to that country.
These allegations were repeated within the conservative press, with the journalist appearing as a frequent visitor on Sean Hannity's influential Fox News show. The former president personally promoted Solomon's reporting.
Solomon made the allegations regarding Ukraine in a series of columns for the political newspaper The Hill, after having been re-labelled as a columnist when staffers raised concerns over his articles. These reports were pivotal in Trump's demand for the officials in Kyiv to investigate Hunter Biden and his father in that year. This pressure culminated in articles of impeachment targeting Donald Trump. The US Senate later found not guilty the president.
Shortly after the journalist departed the publication in October 2019, the outlet announced it was carrying out a assessment of his columns relating to the Ukraine issue. It determined Solomon had used unreliable sources and noted he "failed to identify important details about primary contacts in Ukraine, specifically the fact that they had been charged or were being probed."
Becoming Part of the Sphere
His broadcast spots are a sign of the political media environment Truss is becoming part of. He talked about his endorsement of her new show on a broadcast he helps run on the conservative cable network, a rightwing cable channel that is home to the conservative firebrand ex-Trump strategist Bannon and on which Tucker Carlson also is seen. The ex-PM has already interviewed the political operative on a debut installment.
In linking up with Solomon and Just the News, Truss has become a small part in a much wider network of pro-Trump platforms that routinely amplify each other's content.
Solomon's own programs have frequently included personalities such as commentator Mike Benz, a rightwing influencer whose arguments against USAID was referenced by the tech billionaire as reasoning behind dismantling the foreign aid agency.
A Global Media Play
Although her awkward delivery and political travails have invited ridicule at home, some US observers are not discounting her efforts to revamp her image as a local version of the Make America Great Again press.
"You have to take people like Truss seriously, even if you may not want to take them literally," said a Democratic strategist, who worked in the Biden administration.
"It was evident how in the last election cycle President Trump used that alternative press to get his message out. Certainly that sphere transmits and affects conversation overseas. It looks relatively clear to me that the circumstances in the Britain are comparable to what allowed this non-mainstream media network to thrive here."
Professor Alan Finlayson, said the online conservative ecosystem was already making its presence felt in Britain.
"The internet transcends national boundaries," Finlayson remarked. "There is a certain atmosphere within which ideas travel – on occasion taking an extreme form and sometimes less so – but which is connected."
Professor Hinton said the rise of the internet-based right wing in the United Kingdom in recent times meant the "potential to have a growing impact is significant."
Global Goals
"Both Truss and political figure Nigel Farage in the recent past spoke at the the major conservative conference, where I observed they echoed pro-Trump themes ahead of the {king of Maga|