Rupert Murdoch-owned media outlets, including Fox News, have ramped up attacks on Donald Trump after the former president declared his run to reclaim the nation’s top office.
Even before Trump made his announcement Tuesday night, The New York Post ran an opinion column headlined, “Bore! Donald Trump has gone and lost his swing.”
“It’s very hard to see how Trump could ever win the White House again, so the result is foretold: A Trump nomination would make him a two-time loser and mean four more years of a Democrat in the Oval Office,” the Post’s Michael Goodwin wrote at the end of his column.
The Post continued to portray Trump negatively after his campaign kickoff announcement.
The newspaper reported that Trump’s prime-time declaration was ignored by network news outlets, only partially running on CNN and Fox News Channel, and also that “conservatives and liberals alike” were “expressing dismay” on Twitter of the former president’s decision.
The Post’s front page also displayed a story that highlighted the famous no-shows — including Trump’s daughter Ivanka — and technical issues at the Mar-a-Lago announcement.
The Post and The Wall Street Journal, also owned by Murdoch, published stories about how Trump’s support among Republicans is lagging.
“Many congressional Republicans said they were wary of former President Donald Trump’s launch of another bid for the White House, expressing concern that his move could distract from the party’s effort to win a Dec. 6 Georgia Senate runoff in the short term and hurt the GOP’s appeal to a swath of voters in the long term,” the first line of a Wednesday Wall Street Journal story read.
The Murdoch newspapers, as well as Fox News, have reported that several GOP megadonors say they will not support Trump.
The Post and Fox News played up a quote from Andy Sabin, a New York-based businessman who owns Sabin Metal Corp.
“I’m not going to give [Trump] a f***ing nickel,” Sabin told CNBC.
Others also haven’t held back when it comes to the former president. Post columnist John Podhoretz dubbed the former president “Toxic Trump.”
Podhoretz wrote that Trump was “the political equivalent of a can of Raid” and “perhaps the most profound vote repellent in modern American history.”
Trump was blamed for supporting losing or underperforming candidates like Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, and Blake Masters in Arizona that cost Republicans a chance to make big gains in the House and Senate, as many had predicted.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, if he runs, is widely considered to be the preferred candidate of many Republicans.
The Post ran an editorial urging DeSantis run for president with a cover featuring a triumphant picture of the governor with the headline, “DeFuture.”
Murdoch offered support of Trump in 2016 — after which Fox News benefited from the candidate’s rising popularity — but the relationship soured in 2020 when Fox News projected Joe Biden would defeat Trump in the state of Arizona, Financial Times reported.
Murdoch apparently has made his intentions clear to Trump in recent phone conversations.
“We have been clear with Donald,” a senior News Corp. source said, The Guardian reported. “There have been conversations between them during which Rupert made it clear to Donald that we cannot back another run for the White House.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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