It is hard to imagine that Trump and those in his orbit haven’t considered what they will do if they lose in November, or that the media business hasn’t occurred to them (as it occurred to Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, and many other GOP politicians). The longer Trump lags far behind Hillary Clinton, the bigger incentive those whose salary he pays have to prepare for whatever is next––and the more their interests diverge from both the GOP and the conservative movement.

If today’s polls hold through election day, Trump and associates will be proved failures at electoral politics. But even if that proves so, I wouldn’t bet against a right-wing media behemoth that brought together Trump, Roger Ailes, Stephen Bannon, Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge, and Sarah Palin, especially if they had some help:

Fox News Channel’s No. 1 primetime lineup could be in jeopardy if network boss Roger Ailes gets booted. Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Greta Van Susteren all might exit the network if parent company 21st Century Fox gets rid of Ailes in the wake of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former host Gretchen Carlson, according to a person familiar with the situation. The three hosts have all spoken out publicly in defense of Ailes, who has been under internal investigation since shortly after the Carlson suit was filed. O’Reilly, Hannity and Van Susteren have contract clauses that would allow them to depart if Ailes leaves the network, according to a Financial Times report, which cites two people briefed on the situation.

I am not alone in wondering if a media company of this sort is in the offing.

“The breakout media star of 2016 is, inarguably, Donald Trump, who has masterfully—and horrifyingly—demonstrated an aptitude for manipulating the news cycle, gaining billions of dollars worth of free airtime, and dominating coverage,” Vanity Fair reported in June. “Now, several people around him are looking for a way to leverage his supporters into a new media platform and cable channel.”

The story continued:

Trump is indeed considering creating his own media business, built on the audience that has supported him thus far in his bid to become the next president of the United States. According to several people briefed on the discussions, the presumptive Republican nominee is examining the opportunity presented by the “audience” currently supporting him. He has also discussed the possibility of launching a “mini-media conglomerate” outside of his existing TV-production business, Trump Productions LLC. He has, according to one of these people, enlisted the consultation of his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who owns the The New York Observer. Trump’s rationale, according to this person, is that, “win or lose, we are onto something here. We’ve triggered a base of the population that hasn’t had a voice in a long time.”

“It now seems very plausible,” John Ziegler writes, “that the remainder of the campaign might be used as little more than a marketing campaign for a future competitor to Fox News Channel.” The “let Trump be Trump” approach would certainly facilitate that end, whether or not it was the candidate’s conscious intention.