Liberal critics spent years smearing Fox News as “state TV” during Donald Trump’s time in office.
But Fox News faced a pivot point.
And then Fox News made a major decision about Donald Trump that took everyone by surprise.
Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan ascended to the role of Fox Corporation CEO back in 2019.
Lachlan Murdoch’s promotion led to endless speculation as to what a new generation of Murdoch’s taking over at Fox News would mean for the network’s coverage.
That discussion was put off while Trump served as president.
However, it reared its head once again as many – Trump included – thought Fox began to inch away from Trump over the last several months.
No Fox host interviewed Trump since Sean Hannity in mid-April.
Trump has not gone that long without appearing on Fox since former Fox News President Roger Ailes hired Trump as a weekly contributor on “Fox and Friends” back in 2011.
Other 2024 Republicans began regularly appearing on Fox in the interim leading to the rumor mill churning that the Murdochs were giving other contenders the opportunity to audition for the role of Fox’s chosen candidate in the 2024 election.
Now there are reports that Lachlan Murdoch has said behind the scenes that he thinks Trump running for president in 2024 would be bad for the country, but that he understands the Fox News audience supports Trump so there will never be an editorial mandate to oppose Trump’s place in the Republican Party.
CNN reported:
Fox News largely refrains from criticizing Donald Trump. But, in private, Lachlan Murdoch has denounced some of the former President’s behavior in harsh terms.
In private this year, the Fox Corp. chief executive has freely criticized Trump, saying that he disagrees with much of the way the former President behaves, sources tell me. Murdoch has gone so far as to tell people that he believes if Trump were to run again, it would be bad for the country, I’m told.
But, the sources added, Murdoch has also noted that the Fox News audience continues to support Trump. Which is to say that Murdoch knows that supporting Trump is good for business — and, more importantly, he knows that pillorying him is bad for business because it would alienate the channel’s core audience.
As the rumor mill spun the big names on Fox News Channel’s primetime opinion shows – Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham – all remained supportive of Trump.
It is also hard to imagine that Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham would take marching orders on which 2024 candidates they were allowed to support on the air.
And in the wake of Joe Biden’s thuggish power play where the FBI raided Donald Trump’s home, any thought that Fox News would abandon Trump immediately went out the window.
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