Immediately following the midterm election last week, Rupert Murdoch turned on Donald Trump. Reportedly, the two men have been at odds for a few years now, and Murdoch had his doubts about Trump’s reelection in 2020 too. What we saw last week was a wall-to-wall denouncement in Murdoch’s media empire. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post both ran significantly anti-Trump stories and Fox News has begun phasing out their sycophantic Trump coverage. Fox News and WSJ are leaning heavily into hyping Ron DeSantis, an actual Florida swamp monster who is a lot like Trump, only younger and sleazier (if that’s possible). In case you needed all of that underlined, here’s a handy piece on Rupert’s machinations behind the scenes.
Rupert Murdoch has reportedly warned Donald Trump his media empire will not back any attempt to return to the White House, as former supporters turn to the youthful Florida governor Ron DeSantis. After the Republican party’s disappointing performance in the US midterm elections, in particular the poor showing by candidates backed by Trump, Murdoch’s rightwing media empire appears to be seeking a clean break from the former president’s damaged reputation and perceived waning political power.
Last week, Murdoch’s influential media empire, including right-leaning Fox News, his flagship paper the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post, each rounded on Trump, calling him a loser and a flop responsible for dragging the Republicans into “one political fiasco after another”.
“We have been clear with Donald. There have been conversations between them during which Rupert made it clear to Donald that we cannot back another run for the White House,” a senior News Corp source told the i newspaper.
Trump has accused Murdoch of going “all in” to support DeSantis, 44, whom he has called an “average Republican governor” and has nicknamed “Ron DeSanctimonious”.
Lachlan Murdoch, the heir apparent and eldest son, who co-chairs News Corp and runs the parent company of Fox News, has reportedly told DeSantis that the group would back him if he ran in the next election. “Lachlan has been keen on Ron for some time,” said the i’s source. “He’s viewed within the organisation as a sanitised version of Donald.”
DeSantis, who has been called “DeFuture” by the New York Post and “the new Republican party leader” in a Fox News column, has not declared whether he intends to compete to be the party’s 2024 presidential candidate.
It really is like Succession, right? Rupert and his sons just sit in a room and pick the next Republican presidential candidate. There was that interesting moment in Bombshell where Fox News – and the Murdochs – encouraged Megyn Kelly to go after Trump in the primary debate, then Fox News refused to back her as Trump began attacking Kelly relentlessly, and they basically forced her to “make nice” with Trump. Something similar will happen again if DeSantis f–ks up or MAGAts suddenly get agitated about Trump again. Murdoch isn’t some paragon of integrity, he prefers to back the “winner” regardless of whether that guy is a rapist, a traitor, a thief, an insurrectionist, etc.
There’s also a very good chance that Trump – who is like a wounded animal, lashing out at everyone – decides to turn the full extent of his ire on the Murdochs. Is Trump powerful enough to take down the Murdochs? It would be fascinating to watch him try.
Update: Here’s how the Post covered Trump’s announcement last night. Page 26!! Ouch.
NY Post: Florida Man Makes Announcement —> story deep inside on page 26. pic.twitter.com/rccr3OcD1P
— Christine Romans (@ChristineRomans) November 16, 2022
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of the NY Post.
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- Celebrities at Scott's restaurant in London, United Kingdom,Image: 374623890, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no
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- United States President Donald J. Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House in Washington, DC headed for political rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota on Friday, October 30, 2020.,Image: 566480403, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no
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- United States President Donald J. Trump delivers an update on Operation Warp Speed during a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on Friday, November 13, 2020. OWS is a public private partnership, initiated by the Trump administration, to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.,Image: 568892921, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no
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- United States President Donald J. Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC after returning aboard Marine One, Thursday, December 31, 2020. They cut short their Florida vacation to return to the Capital.,Image: 579989841, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Ken Cedeno – Pool via CNP / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- United States President Donald J. Trump makes a statement to the gathered press as he departs the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. The President is heading to Alamo, Texas today to visit the border wall between the United States and Mexico. This is the Presidents first appearance following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by his followers last week.,Image: 582803260, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Samuel Corum / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- United States President Donald J. Trump departs the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. The President is heading to Alamo, Texas today to visit the border wall between the United States and Mexico. This is the Presidents first appearance following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by his followers last week.,Image: 582803314, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no, Credit line: Samuel Corum / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- United States President Donald J. Trump speaks during a meeting with Klaus Iohannis, Romanias president, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019. Trump said today he’s “not ready to make a deal with China,” but adds Beijing wants an agreement and something could happen soon. Credit: Andrew Harrer / Pool via CNP | usage worldwide
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- United States President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks as he departs the White House to visit a Whirlpool corporation manufacturing plant in Ohio, on Thursday, August 6, 2020, in Washington, DC. Credit: Kevin Dietsch / Pool via CNP | usage worldwide
So one horrible old man dumps another horrible old man in favor of a horrible younger man. And, not because of being horrible, just a loss of power. There are no heros in the story.
I came here to say the same. There are no heroes in this story. Not Trump. Not Murdoch. Not Megyn Kelly. Not Liz Cheney. Not Ron DeSantis.
No right-winger is a good person or hero. Point blank, periodt.
💯
Amen.
Agreed. But now that you mentioned Liz Cheney, did anyone else read about the fight between Liz Cheney and Kari Lake? OMG, so delicious. Hope everybody saw it. Cheney bought maybe $500K in ads against Lake and openly supported the Anti-Lake movement as Lake is trying to be Trump in a dress and a huge ‘election denier.’
Lake wrote an open letter to Cheney and posted it. Mock-thanking for all her help, saying how good it actually was for her base, etc etc. Cheney waited UNTIL THE MOMENT LAKE LOST and replied to her tweet “You’re welcome.” Savage. Remember Diana Rigg in GoT? Many “Tell Cersi it was me” memes immediately spawned. I’m no Cheney fan but I can enjoy the civil war going on inside the Republican party.
Oh that’s interesting! Cheney is not a good person, but she has been useful lately.
👍👍👍👍👍👍💯
I hope they keep in-fighting and the result splits the republican party into two different parties with their own separate voting blocs. Then they can vote for their choices and compete against each other in all the races.
Murdoch will back whoever will make him the most money. DeSantis is terrible but Trump is larger than life (to the GOP) and is a useful distraction from the GOP’s grift and manipulations.
So, yeah, Murdoch is a liar. He doesn’t care who wins. He just wants more money. If Trump brings in the money, Murdoch will support him.
This. I think Murdoch is just buying time to see what happens. Who knows if Trump will even run in 2024 – he could be just blowing smoke as he often does.
Murdock was fine with everything when Donald’s poisonous rhetoric was bringing in huge ratings
Now that he’s being sued over Donald and friends slandering the Dominion voting machines he has a problem.
A $1.6 billion problem. As someone in the business he should have observed the slander laws.
This evil man is at the root of why our country has been (and continues to be) in turmoil with his brainwashing of millions of people.
I hate to break it to you, but the US has always been like this.
You might not have noticed, but ask any Black person.
This isn’t anything new, your country (& mine, Canada) are literally built on it.
Was going to say I can’t tell if this is good or not… hard to imagine anything worse than Trump. But…
My Black friends found it amusing that all the White liberal women were sputtering that Trump didn’t even try to pretend that he represented us.. they essentially said, welcome to our world.
I’m gonna go with Reagan ending the fairness doctrine for that. It allowed fox to say whatever they want.
This. Once Newton Gingrich pulled his perforative bullshit on camera in an empty chamber, it was all over but the crying.
You are so very very correct on that.
@lucy – Reagan and Justice Roberts gutting the voting rights act
It was Ronald Reagan that really began the current downfall and created the mess we have today that allowed Trump to succeed. Republicans adore him, but he caused the stupid trickle down economic disaster fallacy that haunts us to this day.
Here in Europe, a lot of right-wing crazies have an uncomfortably close relationship to at least one media provider that lets them spew their poison directly into people’s brains. Trump had twitter for this weekend unholy alliance and the Murdoch conglomerate backed him as well. If Trump is able to find something that he can exploit, then he might be able to do it. Barring that, Murdoch wants to be a kingmaker.
Sorry, scratch the word weekend (should have been weird) before unholy alliance.
If Trump in the nominee, all of these goons will fall in line and back him. No question.
They absolutely will back him, he will be the nominee, & desantis will have to wait his turn.
Trumps work isn’t finished, which is why, imo, he was so desperate to stay president. He didn’t accomplish what his keepers needed him to.
Hoping Trump and Desantis cancel each other out of the race. Been patiently waiting for Trump and Murdoch to exit this planet earth but both have sons ready to take their despicable places.
We don’t know anything about Barron yet, but Jr and Eric Trump are just plain idiots. Clueless spoilt rich kids who would never have the support that their father has. It’s Ivanka and Eric’s wife Lara I’d be more worried about.
Wish to God that Murdoch had never inflicted Trump on us in the first place. We should all be angry at how much this Aussie influenced American politics!!! Almost as bad, maybe worse, than Putin!
It goes further back than that- Czechoslovakia’s intelligence was working in concert with the KGB, when Czech model Ivana married Rump in ’77. Ten years later Mark Burnett, producer of “The Apprentice,” had/s ties to banker Robert Foresman, who had ties to RU oligarchs who had connections to Putin. Rump first had his RU contact in 1987 when he was dipping his toes into his first real estate development, and a RU run electronics store just happened to pop up near him and gave him a ridiculously lowball price for televisions for his hotel.
KGB/Putin played the long game. Found themselves an arrogant narcissist who was easily swayed by praise. They buttered him up, and connected producer Mark Burnett to him, and then, voila! He’s a TV personality beloved for years by the credulous rubes who open their brains to be spoon fed the fantasy.
This is where we are today. Read about it at The Guardian, or listen to the fabulous podcast “The World Beneath.” That pod is produced just as slickly and professionally as Rachel Maddow’s “Bag
I cant wait for the coming Trump tantrum. Ahhhh, Republicans, you reap just what you sow.
Does trump have that kind of power?
I’d say so, given how he controls gop, senators, judges.
It’s his mob/mafia connections globally that give him that power, I think.
Those senators (Lindsay for example), sure backed down lightening fast after a meet with trump.
He’s got the goods in too many of them.
DeSantis is what the gop wants, the policies they believe in.
Trump wasn’t president for policy, he needed something from it, his connections needed him specifically to be president.
2 different things are in play here: gop wants their horrible policies passed (desantis can do this). Trump’s connections need him back as president (therefore blackmailing gop).
Trump is too stupid to make any policies or do anything, he is following orders.
Trump’s followers are not going to be swayed from him, ever. They’re a cult. Trump’s not going to play ball with the Republicans, either. I want him to drag them all into his dumpster fire, where they belong.
@Emily_C, I agree wholeheartedly. I work in a very conservative area and the Trumpsters are really amping up out here. It’s shocking as I drive through the valley and see the flags, stickers, etc. I view this as either a really good thing—Trump dividing the Republican Party and then running as an Independent and splitting the vote of the conservative/racist/etc and Dems win—or else the Republicans will see the writing on the wall of his popularity, reverse course and get in lockstep behind him. Because let’s be real, this is what happened the first time around.
This is the problem facing the Republicans. A significant number of their (remaining) base is a Trump cult. MAGA fanatics were outside of Trump Tower stomping on a DeSantis poster & shouting “Trump or Death.” And they mean it (see, COVID). Murdoch may well push DeSantis to be the nominee, but most of the brainwashed Trumpers won’t fall in line, nor will many Republicans who jumped ship after Trump.
For once, I’m rooting for Roger Stone. I think he knows plenty about the skeletons in Ron’s closet.
My father was the same before he passed away. He was a brilliant lawyer (Ivy League law review) and he campaigned for Bobby Kennedy. But in the last few years of his life he was reduced to spouting Fox News lies ..ur talking points. I just treated it as if he had dementia, which is apparently a side effect of Fox News.
Ron’s closet… is a very interesting place.
This is what I’m hoping for as well. Splinter the party, and make it easier to elect Democrats, and maybe knock down Fox News a bit too. Splinter the viewership, fewer ad buys, etc.
It will be interesting to see if Fox can reprogram their viewers to make them embrace DeSantis or if their first brainwashing of viewers was so successful that people will stick with Trump throughout everything.
I essay think they’re all going through early dementia together. I don’t think you can redo the programming. Cognitive decline doesn’t do new information.
It’s a disgrace that our “news” is really propaganda open to the highest bidder, but I’d be relieved if Trump is never President again. Alas, DeSantis would be just as heinous?? SO DEPRESSING; my mother-in-law watches Fox News round the clock…and believes it. 🙁 The woman has a master’s degree… SO DEPRESSING…
They’re all gonna cave and fall in line behind this psycho, even Murdoch. Maggie Haberman of The NY Times is already soft peddling his speech, trying to build his traitorous ass up again. He is using the campaign for cover and hopefully the DOJ will get it together and fully indict this man. He shouldn’t even be eligible to run.
It’s very clear that the media has learned absolutely nothing since 2016 and has spent zero time reflecting on the damage their continued failures have wrought, because they’re too busy planning out their 24/7 coverage and laughing all the way to the bank.
I wish the DOJ would do something but unfortunately I think skeptics like Sarah Kendzior are right about Garland like she’s been right about everything else. If after the Mar-a-Lago raid the excuse was that they couldn’t indict because it was close to an election that he wasn’t even running in (he had just endorsed some candidates), how would they justify indicting him now that he’s actually declared his candidacy? It’s not going to happen. This is the bad place.
DeSantis would have all the same policies as Trump, or worse, and is a smarter, more tactical politician so would probably have more success actually enacting those policies. The question is whether he would lean in to Trump-like rhetoric outright, or if he would go the more “respectable republican” route like Romney. He’s capable of both, which is why IMO he’s way more dangerous than Trump.
Aside from being a traitor to America and eroding basic civil liberties for marginalized people (LOLsob, aside from that), one of the worst aspects of Trump was the nonstop terror he spewed from his twitter account and the frenzy of hate it kicked up, but that was also what made a lot of people actually pay attention and fight back. Without that I think we’d all be saddened (but not shocked) at what people will just shrug and accept if it’s presented in a palatable way instead of online ranting and raving.
No matter which one of them ends up the republican nominee, if they win we all lose.
Um, we should have a rule that says media moguls aren’t allowed to meddle in politics for monetary gain.
Is Trump powerful enough to take down the Murdochs?
Hell no!
Rupert and Company are among the world most influential.
Rupert is well known for being awful, in every way.
Does anyone think he gives 2 hot meals what Trump wants anymore? He does NOT.
What really worries me is how quickly DeSantos has been crowned as The One.
DeSantos strikes me as just as calculating as Trump, simply a younger version of Trump, who is suddenly The Golden Boy, The Coming Man, 2024 is being called POTUS DeSantos time.
It all worries me. The US and world economies for the average Joe are just a sh*t show, with no end in sight.
Biden truly has a fight on his hands and Team Dem needs a solid win in getting the cost of living under control quickly. In the mid-terms the folks I know IRL, mostly hard core Dems, were saying “No, not going to vote. Why bother, the fix is in already.”
I don’t know what people mean when they say, “The fix is in.” I know about gerrymandering and voter suppression, which must be dealt with (despite the Supreme Court’s enthusiasm for them), but voting still matters in this country. Remember, we DID get rid of Trump in 2020 despite all the hell that he let loose.
That Post article on trump’s announcement was hilarious!!
“….Mar-a-Lago, his resort and classified-documents library”
“Trump, famous for gold-plated lobbies and firing people on reality television”
“His cholesterol levels are unknown, but his favorite food is a charred steak with ketchup.”
Wow. SAVAGE!
No one is worse than Trump. No one. Was aware of him for decades before he became involved in politics. No one. That said, I strongly suspect part of the reason he’s running again, other than the obvious malignant narcissism, is an attempt to hold off any indictments. Stall stall stall was always a part of his legal strategy.