Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy told Rob Schmitt on Tuesday night that President Donald Trump deserves an A+ for his job performance so far.
In a one-on-one interview Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Ruddy also said Newsmax has reported significant growth since the company went public on the NYSE this past March. He said the company expects such growth to continue.
"I just don't say it flippantly," Ruddy said of his A+ grade for Trump so far.
"This is a guy that inherited the world on fire," Ruddy explained.
"The economy was in terrible shape and 25% cumulative inflation over the past few years, raging deficits, just enormous economic problems.
"And then we had 15 million illegals in the country at the same time.
"And then globally, he's had a war in Ukraine. He's got to deal with potential war in the Middle East, the Taiwan situation. I don't think anyone else could have handled it as well so quickly."
Ruddy said Trump's critics are not giving the president enough time for his economic plan to take effect.
The Newsmax CEO argued that since Trump took office this term, "the economic numbers are pretty good" — noting lower inflation, good jobs numbers, and lower oil prices.
Ruddy also predicted Trump's "big, beautiful bill" will pass after "some changes."
"I saw the president this past weekend, and he's very optimistic about it being [passed]," he said.
The bill has the solid backing of people like Steve Forbes, Stephen Moore, and Larry Kudlow, Ruddy added.
Schmitt asked Ruddy about Newsmax Inc.'s performance since the company went public.
Ruddy said the company has done extremely well since going public, with double-digit growth in first-quarter revenues.
"The company is doing tremendous," Ruddy told Schmitt.
"Our ratings in Q1 were up 50% ... our streaming channel was up 25% in May. We've had a double-digit growth in revenue, which has been continuing for the last three or four years."
Ruddy noted over the last several years the company witnessed revenue growth over 300% revenue and revenues from Newsmax+ were up 50% in Q1 of this year.
He pointed out that the company also renewed cable carriage with Verizon and added Hulu+, which is the last major pay TV operator to carry Newsmax.
Ruddy said the Hulu+ addition puts the company "on par with CNN and Fox in terms of distribution."
Schmitt mentioned critics attacked Trump's companies and if Newsmax was seeing the same type of attacks.
Ruddy said financial media had been offering misleading or false information.
He cited a recent Seeking Alpha story that claimed that Newsmax investors, including Ruddy himself, had filed to sell 121 million company shares.
Ruddy said the claim was false, stating he was under a lock-up provision for his shares and he had no plans to sell shares beyond the lock-up.
Despite this, Ruddy said big positive news was the recent announcement Newsmax was expected to join the U.S. mid-cap Russell 2000 Index on June 30, opening Newsmax for still more investment opportunities.
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers, institutional investors, index funds, and ETFs for their investment decisions.
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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