Donald Trump is already upset that Fox News is insufficiently worshipful of him nowadays and Rupert is being mean and won’t do anything about it, and he thought they were pals. But when Trump gets wind of Murdoch saying, “After all that has gone on, people are ready for Sleepy Joe,” that will be his Julius Caesar moment. He will feel the knife, right between the shoulder blades. Daily Beast:
President Trump’s influential supporter Rupert Murdoch is telling close associates he believes Joe Biden will win the election in a landslide.
The Australian-born billionaire is disgusted by Trump’s handling of COVID-19, remarking that the president is his own worst enemy, that he is not listening to advice about how best to handle the pandemic, and that he’s creating a never-ending crisis for his administration, according to three people who have spoken with Murdoch. […]
While Murdoch believes the outcome of the election is a fait accompli, his New York tabloid has been doing everything in its power to help Trump’s re-election chances, publishing a screaming page 1 story on Wednesday under the headline, “Biden Secret E-Mails.” The supposed “smoking gun” emails purported to show that Hunter Biden had introduced his father to a Ukrainian businessman when he was vice president, though the Post relied on unverified documents given to them by Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani. (Biden’s team denies that such a meeting took place.)
Whatever Murdoch thinks is going to happen on November 3 is one thing, and making money from Giuliani’s latest conspiracy theory to help Trump is quite another. But it does look like the Trump/Murdoch bromance is over.
Murdoch had long prized having unfettered access to the White House, much like the direct line he has enjoyed to leaders in Australia and the U.K. But people familiar with the matter say the two men have not spoken in several weeks after Murdoch grew tired of Trump’s endless complaints about what the president viewed as negative coverage on Fox News.
When Trump first began having his falling out with Fox News, he tweeted them, “Remember who put you where you are.” Maybe Murdoch should say those exact same words to Trump. Or, maybe he already has. Just as it has always been certain that Mitch McConnell would cut Trump loose one day, it’s been more or less assured that Rupert Murdoch would know when he had been able to get all the mileage out of Trump that he was able to get and cut bait before he became too much of a liability. It appears that both those days have come.
“Dropping like flies” rings a bell.
For whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee, Donald…
I was thinking about this, when Biden wins they are going to have to disinfect the entire White House, West Wing, East Wing before the Bidens can live and work there. It is a COVID hotspot and in January COVID will be bad, especially with the flu around too.
Well, there’s Blair House until that fumigation is over.
BJ, I said this even BEFORE tRump contracted Covid. I wouldn’t want to move into the White House after tRump moved out unless it was fumigated and repainted. That is, of course, unless tRump sets fire to the place on his way out!
I’d also ask that it be swept for listening devices and other bugs. I’m sure Vlad would love to continue keeping tabs on White House residents and guests after the flaming pile of dung is gone.
Two Kamala Harris staffers have tested positive, Kamala is cancelling events. All because of Trump, and his gleeful disregard for reality. I am sure he, and his other gross enablers are cheering this on.
Kamala herself is still clean, right? And I think it safe to assume Uncle Joe is in the clear by now as well.
mae, that’s really awful news!
hi
I’m not sure how much Putin (who seems to be dealing with some issue of his own over in Russia) has been screwing around other than turning loose his cyber folks to run their disinformation campaign. What I do know is what he is capable of, and what’s he’s demonstrated a willingness to do AND capabilities his country developed and employed going back to his days in the KGB, which have surely been improved upon as technology has improved. I’m talking bioweapons. Putin has employed chemical weapons against enemies including when they are residing in western countries. Novchick is particularly deadly, and Covid is nowhere as bad if used as a bioweapon as say Anthrax would be but aeresolized delivery systems that can be easily concealed and deployed in the form of concentrated blasts of Covid lace air from something innocouous like an asthma inhaler, or “breath freshener spray is all too within the capabilities of the “wet works” department that still exists within Russia’s darker intelligence apparatus. Boxes of that stuff could easily be shipped under diplomatic seal to the embassy and consulates around the U.S. and just as easily distributed in a virtually untraceable way by having trusted employees who live out in the surrounding community handing them out to assigned operatives which we know are all over the place as they always have been since back during the Cold War.
They could spritz that shit wherever they wanted to. Including say at a campaign event or a Presidential debate. Given the hold Trump likely has on Trump and therefore his kids and the world of hurt ALL of them will be in should Trump lose I don’t have to stretch my imagination much to think that if told to do so (hell, they might WANT to!) “Melanie, and Trump’s evil spawn from his first marriage and their wives/girlfriends would gladly aim that shit at the Biden side of the room. With a little practice they could get pretty good at hiding what they were doing. And of course sneaking an operative into a campaign venue as a worker prepping the podium or area could spread that stuff all over a podium, and chairs.
Yes, it sounds like full blown CT complete with tinfoil hat at first reading. But it’s not merely theoretical about what could be done. As I said Russia HAS the capability and has demonstrated a willingness to use it both at home and on foreign soil. It’s not a question of IF they could do it, but rather WOULD they do it. I realize that for all the precautions Biden and Harris have taken the odds are that someone in their campaigns would contract the virus. They don’t all live in a bubble although at this point I think it would be a good idea to create one for the next few weeks. At this point I don’t discount the possibility of ANYTHING from the Trump side, and that includes purposely trying to infect Biden (in particular) or Harris with Covid, if not directly then via a staffer since people can transmit the disease for a couple of days before they start showing symptoms and test positive. Given some of the evidence/timeline of Trump’s own infection it’s entirely possible he was infected (as was “Melanie”) at the time of the first debate and KNEW it. We’re talking Trump remember, so simply trying to put on a front and pretend all was well might not have been all he was up to. He’s EXACTLY the type of person who would think and act in a “I’ve got it so I’m going to make sure YOU get it too! type of way.
If they DO have a final in person debate next week, the commission shouldn’t stop with some lame ass partitions like they did with Pence & Harris. There should be a full plexiglass partition from the back of the stage all the way down the center of the room and the moderator can be in a plexiglass enclosure! When Team Trump makes a fuss flat out call them out – bluntly say their refusal to take part in agreed upon rules for testing, then refusing to wear masks combined with hiding when the President’s last negative test (before announcing he was sick) AND their continued flaunting of CDC guidelines and the ever increasing numbers of WH staff and campaign staffers & Secret Service getting sick indicated they KNEW they could spread the virus at the first debate and are plenty capable of doing it again!
There is no loyalty among thieves.
Be interesting to see what happens to Rupert Murder’s business after all this is over. I hold him just as responsible for propping Trump as any elected Republican official.
It’s well past time to bring back the fairness doctrine.
I don’t quite understand this, Ursula:
“When Trump first began having his falling out with Fox News, he tweeted them, “Remember who put you where you are.” Maybe Murdoch should say those exact same words to Trump.”
How did Trump “put [Murdoch] where [he is]?” Is this a reference to something that Trump did (or might have done) for Murdoch several decades ago or something? I mean, if it hadn’t been for the Murdoch organization creating Fox News in the first place, Trump wouldn’t have gotten even half as far in 2016 as he did. Between all the *free* airtime that Trump got from Fox News during Obama’s second term and then all the virtual non-stop fellative coverage his campaign got during the GOP primary season in 2016 (you know–breaking into more important news stories because Trump was holding a “rally”) followed by the absolute non-stop fellative coverage he and his campaign got during the general election campaign (with several of the *news* hosts stopping just short of openly endorsing him; most of the “opinion” hosts did openly endorse him, of course), for Trump to suggest that he put Murdoch and Company where they are is just plain silly. If the Murdochs had given ANY of the other GOP candidates in 2016 as they did to Trump, Trump wouldn’t have made it past the February caucus/primary schedule.
Fox News rebounded in the ratings after Obama’s election and you know their ratings would’ve gone through the stratosphere if Hillary had been elected (you’ve got to know that Murdoch was positively salivating at that prospect, especially if the GOP kept the House and Senate). Trump only kept Fox’s ratings relatively high because of his sheer outlandishness but a Hillary presidency? Hoo, boy! But when Trump’s outlandishness became too difficult for the network’s *news* people to cover without coming off as propagandists, the Murdochs had to do something (it’s one thing to be engaging in anti-Democrat propaganda when a Democrat’s in the White House and/or the Democrats control Congress–the network can maintain that façade of “fair and balanced” then–but when the GOP is in the White House and in control of Congress, “fair and balanced” becomes a two-edged sword).
Playing defense for an erratic, would-be autocrat has always been a challenge for Fox News. It’s much easier to oppose Democrats, BLM, etc., and they will relish going after Biden and Harris. Whatever credibility Fox has left will really be tested by their coverage of the looming intra-party war among Republicans. Will they endorse a return to “traditional ” Republican values, or go all in for white supremacy and anti-government extremism?