RUPERT MURDOCH and DONALD TRUMP are the two most important sources of information for Republican voters, and in the last eight years they have waged war for supremacy. Sometimes they use each other (Trump gets airtime, Fox gets ratings), sometimes they are closely aligned (as in a general election against the Democrats), and sometimes they are openly hostile to one another (during primary season in 2015-2016 and again today when Fox and other Murdoch entities search for an alternative to Trump).
As with other power centers of the modern GOP that have not fully embraced MAGA, such as the Senate Republican leadership, Trump is again attacking Fox News with the same fury — and weird specificity — that he usually reserves for political rivals.
Here’s Trump on Thursday:
“Why doesn’t Fox and Friends show all of the Polls where I am beating Biden, by a lot. They just won’t do it! Also, they purposely show the absolutely worst pictures of me, especially the big ‘orange’ one with my chin pulled way back. They think they are getting away with something, they’re not. Just like 2016 all over again…And then they want me to debate!”
Trump’s apparent decision to skip the debate and instead do an interview with the ousted Fox host TUCKER CARLSON — who was the most pro-MAGA personality on the network even if he personally despises Trump himself — has to be seen in the context of this Murdoch-Trump war.
Trump’s intention is not just to upstage the other candidates. His intention is to damage Fox in the one metric that Murdoch and Trump both understand best: ratings.
Right on cue, another round of reports emerged this week that Murdoch is still searching for an alternative to Trump. After reportedly souring on DeSantis, Murdoch has turned his attention to someone new, the WaPo’s Laura Vozzella, Sarah Ellison and Maeve Reston report:
“Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has repeatedly encouraged Virginia Gov. GLENN YOUNGKIN (R) to run for president in 2024, according to two people familiar with entreaties made in at least two face-to-face meetings.
“The previously unreported meetings took place months ago, but Murdoch’s ask has taken on fresh relevance as Youngkin continues to lay the groundwork for a potential last-minute White House bid and as Murdoch outlets hyped his presidential prospects this month with a mix of sober Wall Street Journal analysis and buzzy Page Six blurbs.”
Axios’ Barak Ravid and Alex Thompson also note that Youngkin and Georgia Gov. BRIAN KEMP “are getting secret overtures from establishment Republicans.”
FWIW: The Youngkin yearning is probably a pipe dream. If the governor waited to enter the race until after the November elections in Virginia, he’d forfeit two of the first four states, Nevada and South Carolina, which have October qualifying deadlines, and risk not qualifying in his own state of Virginia, which has a December 14 deadline.
Meanwhile, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal’s editorial page has kept up its drumbeat of pieces urging Republicans to clear the field for a single alternative to Trump lest there be a repeat of 2016. In piece titled, “Culling the Republican Presidential Herd,” the editors on Thursday warned:
“Any announced candidate who hasn’t qualified for the debate based on the Republican National Committee’s criteria isn’t likely to strike political lightning from the sidelines. Staying in longer is essentially a vanity project, or an audition to be a talk-show host. …
“President Biden is eminently beatable if the election campaign is about his record and obvious decline. But not if the election is about Mr. Trump and his grievances and legal peril. Republicans deserve a real nominating contest, not a third Trump coronation, and that means narrowing the field early.”
Over in Murdoch’s New York Post, there are glimmers of this same strategy. On Sunday, the paper’s Miranda Devine made the case for Youngkin: “Happy conservative warrior Glenn Youngkin’s recipe for success in Virginia … and the US.”
Fox is trying to put a brave face on the debate snub, even after the highest levels of the network spent months wooing Trump. A Fox spokeswoman told the NYT that the network “looks forward to hosting the first debate of the Republican presidential primary season offering viewers an unmatched opportunity to learn more about the candidates’ positions on a variety of issues which is essential to the electoral process.”
Murdoch’s former crush is trying to take advantage of Trump’s snub of Fox as best he can. Of Trump’s decision to skip the debate, KRISTIN DAVISON, the COO of DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, told Playbook this morning:
“Not surprising. Trump just doesn’t have the stamina anymore to go toe to toe with someone like Ron DeSantis. Just look at last weekend — Trump spent more time traveling to Iowa than he did at the actual Iowa state fair. He was barely on the ground for an hour before he retreated to Bedminster where he spent the bulk of the day with LAURA LOOMER and LIV Golf. DeSantis spent hours at the fair meeting with voters one on one. It’s too bad Trump’s forfeiting this debate and sad to see he can’t keep up.”
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