Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s outlets are pushing the Republican Party to move on from former President Donald Trump after a disappointing midterm election for the GOP, CNN reports.
Fox News talking heads have repeatedly criticized Trump while praising Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who won re-election by nearly 20 points.
With three outstanding Senate races, Republicans are on the verge of failing to regain the majority in the chamber despite anticipating a “red wave.”
"If that happens, Donald Trump costs us the Senate twice in a row,” said Fox News pundit Marc Thiessen. "In 2020, voters didn't reject Trumpism. They rejected Trump," he added.
Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany appeared on Fox to urge Trump to delay his “big announcement” planned for later this month until after the Georgia runoff and said it should be DeSantis, not Trump, that travels to campaign for GOP candidate Herschel Walker.
"I think we've got to make strategic calculations," she said. "Governor DeSantis, I think he should be welcome to the state given what happened last night. You've got to look you got to look at the realities on the ground. And Herschel Walker, we've got to win the Senate. That's it, guys. Got to win the Senate."
NY Post:
Murdoch’s New York Post also took shots at Trump.
The paper ran with DeSantis on the front page on Wednesday, labeling him “DeFUTURE.”
The outlet followed up with a front page skewering the former president as “Trumpty Dumpty.”
"After three straight national tallies in which either he or his party or both were hammered by the national electorate, it's time for even his stans to accept the truth: Toxic Trump is the political equivalent of a can of Raid," wrote NY Post columnist John Podhoretz. "What Tuesday night's results suggest is that Trump is perhaps the most profound vote-repellant in modern American history. The surest way to lose in these midterms was to be a politician endorsed by Trump. This is not hyperbole."
Wall Street Journal:
Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal editorial board declared Trump the “Republican Party’s Biggest Loser.”
“What will Democrats do when Donald Trump isn’t around to lose elections? We have to wonder because on Tuesday Democrats succeeded again in making the former President a central campaign issue, and Mr. Trump helped them do it,” the editorial said. “Trumpy Republican candidates failed at the ballot box in states that were clearly winnable. This can’t be what Mr. Trump was envisioning ahead of his “very big announcement” next week. Yet maybe the defeats are what the party needs to hear before 2024.”
