Top 5 Influential People Who Gave Us Donald Trump

1. Sean Hannity (and Fox News in general)

It is without surprise that the likes of Sean Hannity and Fox News are the primary reason that Trump was able to secure the GOP nomination.

To begin, Fox News, the conservative-leaning news network that touts their record of being “fair and balanced,” was nothing of the sorts during the GOP primaries. As a matter of fact, not only was Fox News blatantly biased towards Trump in their coverage, but they also gave Trump more than twice as much coverage as any other GOP candidate during the primary season. To put this in perspective, Trump racked up more airtime on the network than Sen. Ted Cruz, former Gov. Jeb Bush, and Sen. Marco Rubio combined.

Furthermore, according to New York Magazine, Trump had been working behind the scenes to run for President for some time, as he “diligently laid the groundwork for his 2016 run over the course of several years, cultivating relationships with powerful allies in the conservative firmament and in the media,” which presumably included Fox News.

For instance, Trump phoned in several interviews on Fox’s On The Record with host Greta Van Susteren long before he announced he would run for President.

As for Sean Hannity, this author has written at length as to how far Hannity has seemingly given up on any sense of principles in the name of ratings. It was obvious throughout the primaries that Hannity held a deep sense of bias and loyalty to his friend, Donald Trump. Through his countless townhalls to his softball questions, Hannity was one of the main causes of Trump’s rise.