Analysis: Murdoch says Trump should leave election lies ‘in the past’, but does anyone believe that’s possible?
“I’m pleased to announce that News Corp’s eighth year has been our most profitable year yet,” Rupert Murdoch said at the publishing company’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday.
At first, Murdoch promised to “increase audiences and improve profits,” but what he said later attracted all the attention of the press.
“The political debate in America today is profound, whether it is about education, welfare or economic opportunity,” Murdoch said. “It’s important that conservatives play an active and powerful role in that debate, but that won’t happen if President Trump stays focused on the past. The past is the past, and The country is now in a competition to define the future.”
Murdoch then goes back to the purpose of the shareholder event – “We’re building our future, expanding our reach and revenue…”
And the rest of us are left to read tea leaves.
Murdoch is now saying he’s more interested in movement than people. But his massive Fox News machine doesn’t reflect that. Should it? It will be? Here are four notes on that…
The difference between “pro-Trump” and “anti-Biden”
#1: Murdoch stoned Trump during the News Corp shareholder meeting, not during the Fox Corp shareholder meeting, held last week.
#2: Brian Lowry writes: “A lot of people are asking if Rupert’s comments about postponing the 2020 election have made their way to Fox’s hosts, and my prediction is almost certain. No. Although we can’t know for sure, that sums up the difference between the network run by Roger Ailes, who runs it as a political act to benefit the public. GOP – and his boss, who always puts profit first and thinks Fox’s prime hour is where their audience currently resides.”
#3: I haven’t heard anyone at Fox Corp make this argument, but I can certainly picture it: Fox News has left the “past in the past” just as Murdoch has encouraged. The phrase “voter fraud” barely appeared on Fox this fall, according to a TVEyes search, while claims of fraud remain a frequent chorus on One America News . Some of Fox’s content, like Tucker Carlson’s rewrite of the history of riots, is clearly Trump-friendly, but Fox is no longer “pro-Trump” because it’s “anti-Biden,” which is exactly where Murdoch wants to be.
#4: But where does the “anti-Biden” coverage lead in the main 2024 environment? Maybe right back to Trump. Then again, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was at the center at the Fox Patriot Awards event in Hollywood, Florida on Wednesday night. Per Jeremy Barr, Hannity asked the crowd about the idea of pairing Trump and DeSantis…
Trump will never let go of his 2020 loss
One savvy reader wrote with this insight: “It’s interesting to me that over the past two days we’ve seen two people (Chris Christie and now Rupert Murdoch) who clearly know what they’re dealing with. deal with Trump – much better than most of us – call on him to do something he can hardly do like stop breathing.”
Hey Trump, get through 2020, admit you’ve lost, stop lying, focus on the future? Does anyone within three degrees of Donald John Trump really believe that is a possibility?
As trusted reader wrote, “He would be sooner rejecting Ivanka at this point than his version of the election results. That will never, never happen.” So why would Murdoch bring that up, knowing that Trump will never let go of the past?
Maher’s prediction
“Trust me, he’s definitely running. He’s going to get the nomination, and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if he just won the election. But even if he doesn’t win the election. , he will SAY he won the election. Sure he will say he won. No matter the number. It doesn’t matter how much you ‘gain your points.’ That’s what Democrats always tell me: ‘We have to win big.’ It doesn’t matter if they don’t believe in the election and the integrity of the election begins, what is the number? They just say it was rigged They think the final election is rigged cheat!”
