Rupert Murdoch's media empire shuns Trump following midterms performance
Rupert Murdoch
Conservative billionaire Rupert Murdoch's media empire seems to have shunned Donald Trump. While Trump readies to announce a 2024 presidential bid, The Wall Street Journal, the flagship of Murdoch's News Corp, termed Trump a "loser" who shows "increasingly poor judgement".
The Republicans didn't perform as expected in Tuesday's midterms, following which an editorial in the newspaper said, "Trump Is the Republican Party's Biggest Loser". The tabloid New York Post, a part of Murdoch's News Corp, showed Trump on a wall as "Trumpty Dumpty" who "had a great fall". The publication blamed Trump for the party's poor showing in the elections.
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"Trumpy Republican candidates failed at the ballot box in states that were clearly winnable," the Wall Street Journal wrote.
Meanwhile, Fox News, backed by Murdoch but separate from News Corp, was all praise for Ron DeSantis, who won the governor's race in Florida and is one of Trump's biggest 2024 rival for nominee.
"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," she said.
The New York Post also lauded DeSantis as "DeFUTURE."
Fox had supported Trump through his 2017-2021 presidency and did not outright castigate him for the midterms. But the network's biggest talk-show host Tucker Carlson held the Republicans responsible for the problems and stopped short of blaming Trump for it.
"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 late Wednesday.
"The truth is, Trump has always been a mixed blessing politically."
Media has been hugely responsible for shaping public opinion ahead of elections and if the current trend continues, then Trump might have a hard time landing a nomination, let alone re-claiming the president's post.
Trump is expected to announce a rerun on November 15.
(With inputs from agencies)
