Rem Rieder

USA TODAY

“Mother of mercy! Is this the end of Rico?” Edward G. Robinson famously asks in the movie Little Caesar.

Mother of mercy! Is this the end of Roger Ailes?

Yep.

The mighty Fox News panjandrum is heading for the exits in the wake of a sexual harassment suit by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson and a steady drip-drip-drip of damaging allegations, largely delivered via New York magazine writer and Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman. Fox parent 21st Century Fox announced Thursday that Ailes was out.

Roger Ailes, 21st Century Fox in talks for his departure

Make no mistake, this is a huge deal. And what happens next will have large consequences.

Over the past two decades, the right-tilting Fox News has been the dominant force in cable news and an important player in Republican politics. It is also a mighty cultural phenomenon, as key to the identity of many of its fans as NPR is to those of a very different orientation.

And that is largely the doing of one man: Roger Ailes.

Sure, Fox News is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, and Murdoch is hardly known as a shrinking violet. But at Fox News, CEO Ailes has wielded pretty much absolute power, dictating strategy and tactics alike.

And part of the reason is that, as they say, you can't argue with success. Under Ailes, Fox News has been both a ratings juggernaut and less a cash cow than an entire herd of cash cows, a formidable money machine. The network is said to bring in more than a billion dollars a year in profits. That's real money.

If Karl Rove was the architect of George W. Bush's winning campaigns, Ailes was both the architect and builder of Fox.

Gretchen Carlson files sexual harassment suit against Fox's Ailes

Murdoch's sons James and Lachlan, now running the family business with Dad, have long been uncomfortable with Ailes. But his relationship with Rupert, not to mention all those dollars, protected him. Carlson's suit, with its allegations of gross, sexist behavior by the boss — "I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better" — plus reports of similar charges from, among others, Fox superstar and noted Donald Trump antagonist Megyn Kelly, gave the brothers the running room they needed to turn the page.

Just weeks ago, Ailes seemed as impregnable as always. One bombshell lawsuit and, just like former NBC anchor Brian Williams after charges of fabrication, the great man suddenly was toast.

So what happens next? Is change in the offing?

The popular channel offers a mix of celebrity-powered talk programming — Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Kelly — and news. The lineup of news hosts includes respected pros such as Chris Wallace and Bret Baier, and those two and Kelly did a fine job moderating GOP debates during the recent primary. It was Kelly's rough questioning of Trump over his comments about women that provoked The Donald's largely one-sided feud with the Fox host.

But there's little doubt that the network has played a key role fanning the flames of such rightist shibboleths as Benghazi and birtherism. And Ailes long has seen himself as a GOP power player as well as a TV potentate.

Will that change under new leadership? Fox likes to promote its coverage as "fair and balanced." Is there a kinder, gentler Fox in our future?

Report: Megyn Kelly told Fox investigators Ailes sexually harassed her, too

Complicating the challenge (not to say opportunity) that lies ahead is the timing. Election years are always good for cable news, and this one, fueled by the rise of Trump and his attention-demanding antics, has been particularly good for all three networks. Of course, should Clinton win, there's likely to be a massive appetite on the right for Clinton-bashing. Even ratings-challenged, liberal-leaning MSNBC tasted success during the George W. Bush/Iraq War years.

One of the hallmarks of the Ailes era has been Fox's role as a full employment act for failed GOP presidential candidates. (Sarah Palin, anyone?) Should that tradition end, candidates need not despair. They may find work at CNN, which recently (and dubiously) snapped up ousted Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

Rieder: CNN's horrendous Lewandowski hire

I first heard of Ailes many years ago when my friend Joe McGinniss was working on his groundbreaking book The Selling of the President 1968. The book was the first to document the burgeoning role of Madison Avenue advertising techniques on presidential campaigns, with a focus on the campaign of one Richard M. Nixon.

His key source: Roger Ailes, who was working for Nixon.

While the two men couldn't have been more different politically — McGinniss was as liberal as Ailes is conservative — they remained lifelong friends. Shortly before McGinniss died in 2014, he was talking to me about offering his take on Gabriel Sherman's Ailes biography in USA TODAY.

How could the two be such good friends?

"Mutual candor is one aspect of our friendship," McGinniss wrote in 2011. "Roger’s terrific sense of humor is another: He is one of the funniest people I know. I don’t think I’ve spent five minutes in his company, privately, without laughing out loud at least three times at things he’s said."

The current unpleasantness is no doubt putting that vaunted sense of humor to a severe test.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rem Rieder on Twitter @remrieder

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