Powerful Murdoch media dumps on Trump
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Former President Donald Trump is expected to announce his candidacy next week.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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WASHINGTON - The powerful media empire of conservative billionaire Rupert Murdoch appeared to turn its back on Mr Donald Trump on Thursday, labelling the former president a “loser” who shows “increasingly poor judgment” after the mid-term elections.
Just days before he is expected to announce his 2024 White House candidacy,
The cover of News Corp’s tabloid New York Post depicted Mr Trump on a precarious wall as “Trumpty Dumpty” who “had a great fall” in the vote, blaming him for the failure of Republicans to sweep past Democratic rivals in the vote.
And at the hugely influential Fox News TV network, praise was thick for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis,
“The biggest winner of the midterm elections was without a doubt Governor Ron DeSantis, whose landslide victory in the state of Florida was breathtaking,” wrote Fox columnist Liz Peek. “The biggest loser? Donald Trump.”
Trump a ‘mixed blessing’
After supporting him through his 2017-2021 presidency, Fox, a Murdoch arm separate from News Corp, did not completely abandon Mr Trump, still the most powerful figure in the Republican Party.
But even the network’s biggest star, talk-show host Tucker Carlson, assailed the Republicans for ballot box failures and at least partly blamed the former president.
“Many others are saying that Donald Trump is the reason Republicans didn’t do as well as they thought they would. That’s a more complicated question,” he said on Wednesday.
“The truth is, Trump has always been a mixed blessing politically.”
The Murdoch outlets are some of the most influential sources of information for US conservatives, unabashedly backing Republicans and attacking Democrats.
So blaming Mr Trump for election disappointment while lavishing praise on Mr DeSantis could shape public views ahead of the 2024 presidential race.
Mr Trump is expected to announce his candidacy next week, whereas Mr DeSantis, who first had to win re-election to the Florida governorship, has only hinted that he might battle for the White House.
DeFuture
In fact, Republicans scored significant gains in the House of Representatives on Tuesday and are expected to wrest control of the body from Democrats when the outstanding races are settled.
But the party had expected to more powerfully trounce Democrats and easily seize both the House and the Senate – still undecided – as well as some key governorships.
Instead, a number of candidates closely aligned with and endorsed by Mr Trump failed to lock in victories.
“Trumpy Republican candidates failed at the ballot box in states that were clearly winnable,” the Wall Street Journal wrote.
Mr DeSantis, meanwhile, swept to a massive re-election victory. On the cover of its first edition after the election, the New York Post celebrated Mr DeSantis as “DeFUTURE”.
Mr Trump appeared to have confirmed the divorce from the Murdoch empire on Thursday. “Despite having picked so many winners, I have to put up with the Fake News. For me, Fox News was always gone,” he wrote on Truth Social. AFP
