As more damning evidence of Donald Trump’s attempts to overthrow the 2020 Presidential Election emerges from the Jan. 6th hearings, some of his biggest supporters seem to be jumping ship.
The latest MAGA turncoat seems to be Rupert Murdoch, the media tycoon who owns everything from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post to Trump’s former favorite TV channel, Fox News. Murdoch was instrumental in Trump’s rise to power but it sounds like even he can see the writing on the wall when it comes to Trump’s political demise once the House Oversight Committee’s investigation is finished. According to a Vanity Fair piece, Murdoch-employed talking heads like Piers Morgan — once a staunch supporter of Trump — have been given the freedom to turn on the twice-impeached president and encouraged to back a new horse in the race to take back the White House: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“Ron DeSantis is showing himself to be a formidable and dynamic political operator,” Morgan recently wrote in his weekly NY Post column. “So, by almost any political metric you choose, this guy’s a far better option for leading the Republicans into the 2024 election than Donald Trump…He’s just younger, fresher, and more exciting than the aging, raging gorilla who’s become a whiny, democracy-defying bore. The game’s up for the Donald…It’s time Republicans put their faith in the Ronald.”
Other writers for Murdoch-owned media outlets have also encouraged Trump supporters to “look forward,” “call an audible,” “unsubscribe from Trump’s daily emails begging for money,” and to help “make America sane again.” Still, the biggest blow to Trump’s ego and future presidential hopes is likely to come from Fox News, the program Trump constantly followed during office whose biggest personalities are starting to favor his rival. After Trump’s defeat, DeSantis was booked over half a dozen times on shows from Fox News heavyweights like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham. The network was instrumental in DeSantis’ rise to power in Florida and, under Murdoch’s instruction, it seems to be supporting his eventual run for president.
“There’s no way these papers are dumping the Donald without the tacit assent of Lachlan and Rupert,” NPR correspondent David Folkenflik told Vanity Fair. (Lachlan Murdoch is Rupert Murdoch’s son and heir to his media empire.) “Trump was always a compromised figure for them, but a useful one. If they can get a cleaner version of Trump in DeSantis, why wouldn’t they want that? Lachlan and Rupert are clearly signaling that they are open to a new generation, to move past Trump and to try and beat Biden.”
Somehow, we just know the news that Trump’s buddy Murdoch and his cronies at Fox News aren’t interested in being friends with him anymore is probably more devastating than the very public, humiliating evidence of treason being broadcasted during these Jan. 6th hearings.
(Via Vanity Fair)