Published
1 year agoon
Fox News might be ignoring the Jan. 6 hearings, but other conservative media outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch are paying close attention.
Bill McEwen
Opinion
Two Murdoch newspapers — the Wall Street Journal and New York Post — published editorials denouncing then-President Donald Trump’s conduct during the attack on Capitol by his supporters.
It’s worth noting that both editorials were published Friday about an hour apart. Nothing happens in Murdochland by coincidence.
This clearly was a message from Murdoch to Trump that he is no longer the vessel for carrying out the conservative platform of low taxes and less regulation.
It also signaled to major Republic donors that they should look at other candidates such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to be the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.
Related Story: Run, Josh, Run. Missouri Senator Is the Joke of the Nation.
Under the headline “Trump’s silence on Jan. 6 is damning,” the Post stated: “It’s up to the Justice Department to decide if this is a crime. But as a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.”
About Trump’s conduct during the riot, the Post concluded that his “only focus was to find any means — damn the consequences — to block the peaceful transfer of power.”
The Wall Street Journal titled its editorial “The President Who Stood Still on Jan. 6.” While it stopped short of saying that Trump was unfit to be president again, it stated that he “utterly failed” the character test presented by the Jan. 6 riot.
Said the Journal: “No matter your views of the Jan. 6 special committee, the facts it is laying out in hearings are sobering. The most horrifying to date came Thursday in a hearing on President Trump’s conduct as the riot raged and he sat watching TV, posting inflammatory tweets and refusing to send help.
“Mr. Trump took an oath to defend the Constitution, and he had a duty as Commander in Chief to protect the Capitol from a mob attacking it in his name. He refused. He didn’t call the military to send help. He didn’t call Mr. Pence to check on the safety of his loyal VP. Instead he fed the mob’s anger and let the riot play out.”
Rioters stand outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021. A new poll shows that about half of Americans say former President Donald Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in what happened on Jan. 6. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 48% of U.S. adults believe Trump should be held accountable for what happened during the deadly Capitol attack. (AP File)
The conservative Washington Examiner website, which is owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz, published an editorial blasting Trump in late June after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified at a Jan. 6 hearing.
Her “testimony ought to ring the death knell for former President Donald Trump’s political career,” the Examiner opined. “Trump is unfit to be anywhere near power ever again.”
The big question, of course, centers on how long Fox News opinion hosts such as Sean Hannity will continue to back the former president while pummeling — or ignoring — his GOP rivals.
The record shows that Hannity will stick with Trump until it becomes in Hannity’s best interest to promote someone else.
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email