Fox News is one of the main reasons Donald Trump was elected four years ago. That fact simply isn’t up for debate, because even Trump has said so and made it clear by refusing to do interviews with almost no other media outlet since he was elected.
But in recent months, the relationship between Trump and Fox seems to have soured, with the president often complaining that the network is not what it once was, complaining on Wednesday that it had become just like CNN:
Incredible! @FoxNews just took Congressional Hearing off the air just prior to important witness statements. More like CNN!!! Fox is lost!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020
That being said, it safe to assume that what Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch told friends recently will absolutely enrage Trump.
Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair reports that Murdoch is already predicting Trump will lose in November:
“At the corporate level, confidence in Trump is waning. Two sources said Rupert Murdoch has recently told people that he believes Trump is going to lose in November. ‘Rupert thinks Trump is going to crash and burn. It’s a clear-eyed assessment, just based on just looking at the news,’ said a person who has spoken with Murdoch about the election.”
In a very real sense, Trump is already in the middle of the “crash and burn” referenced by Murdoch. 116,000 Americans are dead from coronavirus, another 1,000 are dying each day, and at that rate 200,000 will be gone by September. And yet the president is restarting his campaign rallies despite the risk, even making those who attend waive their rights to sue if they catch the disease at a rally.
The economy is also in the toilet. 40 million are unemployed and millions of those jobs will not be returning, meaning a massive financial drain on the American bottom line.
Granted, Rupert Murdoch doesn’t have a crystal ball, but he’s been around long enough to know a loser when he sees one. And it sure sounds like he’s written off Trump.