"He Made Our Country Nastier, Stupider, Cruder, and More Bigoted"

"When Rupert Murdoch hired Ailes to create Fox News as an 'alternative' to the mainstream media, Murdoch's intention was clear. He wanted to degrade American society in precisely the way he had degraded British society. And when degradation is your goal, there is no better hire than Roger Ailes. Ailes was a political aide turned television genius who emanated anger; his crucial insight was that there was a great amount of money to be made off the resentments of others. And the more you could stoke those resentments, the more money you would earn. At the same time, you could increase the net amount of resentment, and create a coarser society, all the better for your own pocketbook."

Isaac Chotiner at Slate remembers Roger Ailes.