What position do far-right news outlets occupy in contemporary U.S. politics, and how did Trump use the power of the presidency to contribute to their rise among Republican legislators and mainstream American media? We posit that Trump’s position as president, in conjunction with his populist communication style that favored far-right outlets, contributed to the legitimation of such outlets. We first analyze Trump’s tweets during his presidency (January 2017–January 2021) mentioning three far-right outlets (One America News Network, Newsmax, and Breitbart), conceptualizing these messages as authority signals that symbolically lend legitimacy to the media sources. We then provide rich descriptive information regarding subsequent mentions of the far-right outlets in four national mainstream newspapers as well as appearances by GOP (Republican) members of Congress in the far-right outlets. We find significant and positive correlations between Trump’s tweets and mainstream media coverage of One America News Network (OANN) and Newsmax, and significant and positive correlations between Trump’s tweets and GOP Congressional interviews on OANN and Newsmax. Together, these results represent an example of presidential authority signals that bolster far-right outlets and aid in their legitimization among legislators and the mainstream press. The findings shed light on the role of political leaders in the recent mainstreaming of the far-right across many democratic countries.

中文翻译：

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总统权威与极右新闻的合法化

极右新闻媒体在当代美国政治中占据什么地位，特朗普如何利用总统权力帮助其在共和党议员和美国主流媒体中崛起？我们认为，特朗普的总统地位，加上他偏爱极右媒体的民粹主义沟通风格，促成了此类媒体的合法化。我们首先分析特朗普在担任总统期间（2017 年 1 月至 2021 年 1 月）的推文，其中提到了三个极右媒体（One America News Network、Newsmax 和 Breitbart），将这些消息概念化为权威信号，象征性地赋予媒体来源合法性。然后，我们提供了关于随后在四份全国主流报纸上提及极右媒体以及共和党（共和党）国会议员在极右媒体中露面的丰富描述性信息。我们发现特朗普的推文与 One America News Network (OANN) 和 Newsmax 的主流媒体报道之间存在显着的正相关关系，并且特朗普的推文与 OANN 和 Newsmax 上的共和党国会采访之间存在显着的正相关关系。总之，这些结果代表了总统权威信号的一个例子，这些信号支持极右媒体并帮助其在立法者和主流媒体中合法化。调查结果揭示了政治领导人在最近许多民主国家的极右翼主流化中所扮演的角色。