What’s left of the Trump 2016 secret formula in the comparatively unenergized and lackluster campaign we see before us? That’s what we’re talking to right-wing journalist Sohrab Ahmari about on this week’s episode of KK&F. Watch below:

To cut to the quick of what made Trump 2016 so compelling for millions of Americans it seems necessary to assess Trump’s relationship with the media — which isn’t as antagonistic as Trump has successfully made it out to be. While mainstream liberal outlets of course downplayed Trump’s prospects and disregarded him as a serious candidate for a long time, it’s also true that those same outlets, as a result of their very outrage at Trump’s approach to the presidential race, gave him lots of free coverage, boosting his platform in ways that (for example) progressive candidates to the left of the Democrats never really benefited from.

Now it’s still true that Trump pokes at the MSM as his personal bugbear, making himself out to be scapegoated and persecuted by them (and showing himself to be against these Beltway elites), he’s also part of a trend we’re calling the Alex Jonesification of the media. If you look at Trump’s most recent debate performance (and we’ve discussed it at length in recent weeks), you’ll see baseless claims that appeal to emotion and paranoia, without any grounding in basic fact or reality. That’s always been a hallmark of Trump’s rhetorical style, but as the far right has only gone farther in the last few years, and new figures like RFK Jr. have risen to amplify Trump’s fearmongering claims or to add new ones to the litany, could it be that Trump is actually getting out of touch?