On prime time television last Friday, Fox News confirmed that Rupert Murdoch has switched his support for next US president from Donald Trump to Ron DeSantis.
Laura Ingraham, one of Trump’s most fanatically loyal spruikers since he launched his campaign for the top American job in 2015, introduced her guest:
“Joining us now, and I’m delighted he’s with us, Governor Ron DeSantis from the great state of Florida ... You’re the guy. You’re the man of the moment!”
The weight of this was not just Ingraham’s breathless endorsement. Nor DeSantis beaming back with incredulous joy. The significance was that right at that moment Donald Trump was speaking at a rally in Arizona which Fox was completely ignoring. That would have been unthinkable just a month ago.
Murdoch and Trump since 2015
Many observers believe Rupert Murdoch made Donald J Trump president. Fox News’s uncritical adoration of the former TV host and failed businessman and its malicious coverage of his opponent Hillary Clinton ensured millions of voters were duped on a range of issues. But it goes much deeper than that.
Trump made many senior White House appointments on the basis of the fealty shown to him on Fox News, including his National Security Advisor, Transportation Secretary and Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Business Insider has listed 21 Fox people who went to work for Trump.
For advice on policy matters, Trump often called his favorite Fox hosts Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs. So this rift changes American politics.
‘Unworthy to be chief executive again’
The first sign of Murdoch’s shift came just over a week ago, on 22nd July, after damning evidence had been aired by the Select Committee in Washington investigating the 6 January 2021 insurrection. An editorial in Murdoch’s New York Post (NYP) stated:
‘To his eternal shame, as appalled aides implored him [Trump] to publicly call on his followers to go home, he instead further fanned the flames by tweeting: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”
‘His only focus was to find any means — damn the consequences — to block the peaceful transfer of power ...
‘It’s up to the Justice Department to decide if this is a crime. But as a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.’
Will this make a difference?
For decades, Rupert Murdoch has been credited with deciding governments in Britain, Australia and the United States.
Australia’s May election suggests his power may still be significant, but no longer decisive.
The Republican Party will select its next presidential nominee at its National Convention in August 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Many things will change before then. The Justice Department confirmed last Wednesday that criminal investigations into Trump are underway. These could land Trump in jail. Although even that would not dampen the ardour of many of his supporters.
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This is an abbreviated version of an article published today in Independent Australia. The original article is available here in full for free:
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/rupert-murdoch-abandons-trump--heres-why-it-matters,16615
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“Alan Austin is a great Australian journalist and,
I think, a pirate. I steal Alan Austin’s findings all the time.”
~ Jordan Shanks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtV-2X4BjQI
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