According to a report from the Daily Beast's Justin Baragona, former Donald Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow is continually taking advantage of the platform provided to him by the Fox Business Network to direct viewers to a non-profit he helped create designed to set policies for the second coming of another Trump presidency.
Kudlow, who saw a career on Wall Street ruined by addiction before becoming a TV commentator, then Trump administration official, landed at Fox Business after the former president's 2020 election loss.
As Baragona notes, it appears that Kudlow wants to get back into politics, with the report calling his latest endeavor a "side hustle, an influential conservative policy think tank some have deemed a MAGA 'White House in waiting.'”
According to the report, "Kudlow founded the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) in 2021 with several other former Trump administration officials. Over the past year, Kudlow’s peculiarly aggressive promotion of the nonprofit organization—for which he serves as vice chair—has become a regular fixture of his late-afternoon weekday show," which then adds, "In just the past six months alone, Kudlow has directly mentioned AFPI at least 51 separate times on his program. He has routinely and prominently featured other board members, including former Small Business Administration director Linda McMahon, who is now the AFPI chair."
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According to some media watchdogs, Kudlow's self-promotion treads a fine ethical line.
As Tim Gleason of the University of Oregon’s journalism school put it, "Cable news continues to blur the lines between ‘news’ and ‘opinion’ and… Fox is at the extreme, having essentially eliminated the distinction in much of its programming,” he continued. “However, applying the ethical standards of major news organization, as the host of a program that is presented as a ‘financial market analysis, roundtable discussions on the policies impacting the domestic and global economies and news-making interviews with business influencers across the world,’ Kudlow’s role at AFP is a clear conflict of interest.”
Noting that AFP has become a major player in the planned resurrection of the Trump administration, Baragona reported, "The board is full of ex-Trump cabinet members and senior staffers. Former acting DHS chief Chad Wolf is the group’s executive director and chairs its homeland security and immigration division. Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry leads the AFPI’s center for energy and environment, former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt handles their initiative for 'American Freedom,' and one-time acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker is the co-chair for the group’s center for law and order."
"The AFPI roster also contains the likes of White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway (now a Fox News contributor), faith leader Paula Cain-White, ex-White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi—all of whom maintain close ties to Trumpworld," he added.
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