Media pioneer Matt Drudge, of Drudge Report fame, emerged from the shadows for his first interview in eight years, taking to the television studios of Alex Jones from Infowars to talk corporate control, the power of the Internet and the state of America's media, even dabbling in politics to suggest: Hillary Clinton is not good for this nation, calling her "old" and "sick" and only a contender because the media are making her so.
He didn't actually appear on camera throughout the 46-minute interview, but stood in the back of the studio holding a microphone.
Jones introduced him as the "king" of getting stories into the global media, something "even the New York Times" credits him for accomplishing, he said.
And toward that, Drudge said his fierce independence has proven key.
"I don't do social media," Drudge said. "I was there before Facebook. I was there before CNN.com ... I have a very clear perception of what the Internet is. I'm not defined by what they say the Internet is. ... There is a lot of corporate make-over of the Internet that I have not adapted to. ... I need no traffic from Google."
He also said: "I'm very concerned with what's happening" insofar as the corporations controlling the media and the Internet and ultimately, the American people.
By way of example, Drudge asked: "Why aren't we seeing Hillary's lovers? Where is the news on this?"
At the same time, Drudge said, "I can't be controlled. I cannot be controlled."
He shortly after expressed concern about the fate of America, saying "people are really sick," and citing the country's support for Clinton as one example.
"I've been saying they could put Hillary Clinton's brain in a jar in the Oval Office and she would be elected," he said. "People are sick. ... People are willing to be made over in the image of these corporations. ... I just wish Americans would get out of the sickness and become greater." He later added, of Hillary: "She's not a contender. They're making her a contender with these propped up Saturday Night Live things. It's like a head on a stick."
The media need to wake up and do their job before that happens, he said.
"If your calling is media, fine, if your calling is sports, whatever it is, but you've got to be the greatest you can be now, now, before this country is so completely altered and we're left with Hillary's brain in the Oval Office in a jar, 'cause that's what we're getting," Drudge said.
And he questioned: Why do people stand for it?
"The Internet allows you to make your own dynamic, your own universe," Drudge said. "What's the difference between the websites, between a Slate or a Salon? ... What's the difference? It's almost a tragedy."
Drudge said: "I'm here to say ... you've got to be the greatest you can be right now. ... There's not a lot of time [left]. There's already automated news sites ... there is no human there. You are being programmed to being automated ... the same corporate glaze over everything."
And his warning to America? Watch out for totalitarianism.
"Don't get into the false sense that you are an individual when you're on Facebook. No you're not," he said. "You're a pawn in their scheme.
"So I don’t know why they’ve been successful in pushing everybody into these little ghettos of these Facebooks and these tweets and these Instagrams — these instas. This is ghetto. This is corporate. They’re taking your energy. They’re taking your energy and you’re getting nothing in return. Nothing," Drudge said. "Ultimately, it’s boring, and the kids are always off to something new. Except for the something new is owned by the same freakin' company or financed by the same banking system.”
Drudge also hinted that because of forthcoming court rulings on copyright, his site's days might be numbered.
He recounted an exchange with an unnamed Supreme Court justice who he says told him, "Matt, it's over for you. They’ve got the votes now to enforce copyright law. You’re out of there. They’re gonna make it so ... you can’t even use headlines."
"Wait until these copyright laws work their way up, and the Supreme Court decides you cannot have a website with news headlines linking across the board. Then that will end for me," Drudge said.
"Fine, I’ve had a hell of a run," he continued. "It’s 20 years next year or 20 years about now. Hell of a run. I couldn’t have gone any farther. I feel completely — I have gone as far out of the galaxy as I can on this. I still wanna stay out here. But I have gone pretty damn far for what one individual can do in this culture. But I’m talking about the future."
He also spoke of the presidential race, expressing pessimism and wondering aloud if Democrats could "find anybody under the age of 70."
"What is this oldness in a vibrant country that needs to go forward to a new century?" he asked.
"I'm pessimistic with this race," Drudge said, "because I'm not sure it's not going to end up with the dreaded brain in the jar in the Oval Office, once known as Hillary Clinton."
Drudge has followed the Clinton family and their political goings-on for years, and rose to national prominence for breaking the Monica Lewinsky scandal, when other more mainstream media outlets dared not. And his assessment of the Clintons?
"They're ugly," he said. "They play dirty. They sued me for $30 million last time around with the approval of the president ... Hillary Clinton with the NSA – good luck if you dissent. ... [Edward] Snowden, I'll switch places with you."
Snowden, a former contractor with the NSA, is living as a fugitive in Russia after he leaked information about the federal government's surveillance program to the world.
Drudge credits Jones with independent reporting, and named others in the media who shared that badge of courage: Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, among others, he said.
"I just wish there were more media that were trail-blazing and independent," Drudge said, saying corporate-owned media "all seemed the same, and this is frightening."