If former President Donald Trump does run again for the presidency in 2024, he won’t have the massive support of one of the most powerful people in the news…media icon Rupert Murdoch.
If that wasn’t going to make The Donald insane with anger enough, it is being reported that the mogul and one of his sons are impressed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Trump made his much-anticipated announcement Tuesday night from his Mar-a-Lago home. And most people believe already assumed he would be announcing his intent to run.
A senior News Corp source told the media, “We [Murdoch’s News Corp.] have been clear with Donald. There have been conversations between them during which Rupert made it clear to Donald that we cannot back another run for the White House.”
Trump should not have been completely surprised at this news because some of Murdoch’s news outlets have been criticizing the former president recently. The Wall Street Journal editorial board called Trump “the Republican Party’s biggest loser.” And the New York Post wasn’t any kinder.
Murdoch is the chairman of Fox News, but he is also the chairman of News Corp. News Corp including The Wall Street Journal, Harper Collins Publishing, Sky News, and the New York Post, among other outlets.
Murdoch has significant media leverage, and he and his son seem to be pro-DeSantis.
Lachlan Murdoch is Rupert’s son, and he is now the co-chairman of News Corp and chief executive of Fox News’s parent company, Fox Corporation.
It is understood now that Lachlan has communicated with the DeSantis team that if he chooses to run for the White House, the family’s media power would get behind him. And they have apparently gone so far as to say that this would be true even if Trump decides to run against him in the GOP primary. They have also made it clear that it doesn’t matter if President Joe Biden is the Democratic candidate or not.
One source familiar with the Murdoch family said the Lachlan has been “keen” on DeSantis for some time now and that the Florida governor is seen within the family as a “sanitized” version of Trump.
The Murdochs were likely upset with Trump’s actions recently especially when the former president referred to the Florida governor as “DeSanctimonius” at a recent rally. And they presumably increased their commitment to DeSantis after his commanding performance in the midterm elections.
The Murdoch family substantiated their disapproval of Trump after the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. One source even indicated that they were willing to back a Democrat candidate in opposition to Donald Trump for the sake of “stability and a sensible” White House: “Exclusive: Rupert Murdoch has told Donald Trump that he will not back any attempt by the former president to return to the White House and could even back a Democrat against him, sources close to the media mogul have told @theipaper.”
It is hard to imagine Rupert Murdoch endorsing and supporting with his means a Democrat candidate, but that is the extent to which he would go in his lack of interest in Trump as a candidate.
It is clear now that Donald Trump will be running for the 3rd time for President of the United States. But what is not clear is what losing the support of this powerful family and their influential media agencies will do to hamper his ability to win the primary and then the general election. It will be interesting to hear what some of Murdoch’s popular hosts on Fox like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity are thinking right now.
