You are more correct than you know. I bought advertising on the Drudge Report under very controlled conditions. Essentially zero effect on clicks, for a ridiculous amount of money. They sell by impressions, not by clicks, and with the refresh rate, there is no telling if anyone even sees your specific ad.
I have no idea who is paying millions per year to him to get banner ads on his site, but I know they get nothing for the money, which made me wonder if the ad revenue is merely some sort of laundered payoff.
In addition to advertising sales, there is nothing illegal I know of
that would prevent Drudge from taking money to run headlines
or links to to articles too. And who would know? That would only
be between Matt Drudge and a specific person with an agenda
to promote.