Matt Drudge Showed Up At The Presidential Debate

As the third and final presidential debate kicked off in Las Vegas on Wednesday it was a rare public sighting that fueled a ripple of excitement on Twitter: The man behind the Drudge Report caught in the wild, signature fedora and all. Except this was no ordinary Drudge Report sighting, this was Matt Drudge spotted at the final presidential debate. With dark sunglasses and a fedora, Drudge was hardly inconspicuous sitting amongst the suit and tie-clad audience at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

While the Drudge Report, a politically conservative news aggregation site, has taken a decidedly pro-Trump stance during this presidential election, Drudge reportedly refused to comment on anything when approached by members of the media. Yet it's not hard to guess who Drudge is on hand to support at the presidential debate considering some of the headlines recently published on the Drudge Report, including "Hillary 'Doesn't Know What Planet She's On'" and "Hillary Fixer Breaks Ranks: Arranged Sex Trysts For Her With Men And Women."

Drudge's resolute support for Trump has even caused the political news commentator to do a 180-degree turn on his stance regarding rumors former President Bill Clinton fathered a son with a former Arkansas prostitute. (A flip so strange it has caused the Washington Post to question whether Drudge has lost his grip on reality.)

In 1999, a year after breaking news of President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, Drudge helped debunk claims Clinton had fathered Danney Williams with a prostitute in Arkansas with a DNA test done by Star Magazine. Yet, as the Post points out, the politically conservative news aggregation site has now changed its tune, pushing stories touting claims Clinton didn't provide a blood sample to Star Magazine (they used an analysis of Clinton's blood made public record) or that the test was not precise enough.

Drudge, and subsequently the Drudge Report, appear to have been pro-Trump since the primaries. In April, Politico analyzed 300 Drudge banners and found the site "has largely pushed banner pieces publicizing Trump favorably." Yet Drudge's support of the Republican nominee has resulted in some major news gaffes, such as when the Drudge Report pushed an article on voter fraud that cited a tweet in which an alleged postal worker admitted to tearing up absentee ballots cast for Trump. The whole thing was easily proven to be a hoax.

Whether Drudge was hoping to ruffle Clinton's feathers with his trademark fedora or simply observe his preferred presidential candidate at work firsthand, his presence at Wednesday's presidential debate left many on Twitter visibly excited.