Rupert Murdoch is scraping you-know-who off the sole of his shoe

By
August 2, 2022
In Commentary

Commentator Dick Polman says Donald Trump’s behavior during and after the January 6, 2021 insurrection may have finally helped convince Fox News boss Rupert Murdoch to end his support for the former president. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The grinding sound you’re hearing is the Rupert Murdoch propaganda machine chewing up Donald Trump and spitting him out.

That’s the good news. We’ll get to the bad news shortly.

What a miraculous coincidence it was last Friday when Murdoch’s New York Post editorial page and Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal editorial page eviscerated Trump for abetting deadly violence on Jan. 6. The right-wing outlets didn’t denounce Trump’s behavior as criminal in nature – that would’ve been too much to expect – but they signaled nonetheless that they’re done with the demagogue once and for all.

Granted, Murdoch’s outlets have sent up signal flares before. Six weeks ago, his Post penned an editorial lamenting Trump’s fixation on the 2020 election and urging Republican voters to consider alternative candidates “who embrace conservative policies without the preoccupations of the Don.” And lest we forget, Murdoch in the past has reportedly referred to Trump as a “f—ng idiot.”

Nevertheless, the latest salvos are startling. From the Wall Street Journal:

“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.”

The New York Post editorial was even more withering:

“Trump didn’t lift a finger… He was the only person who could stop what was happening. He was the only one the crowd was listening to. It was incitement by silence… His only focus was to find any means – damn the consequences – to block the peaceful transfer of power.”

Meanwhile, Murdoch’s Fox News appears to be filing for divorce.

This week, Trump’s usually reliable doormats on “Fox & Friends” posted new poll numbers showing Trump’s grip on the GOP loosening in the early matchups for 2024 – prompting Trump to whine on his social media account. And last week, the Fox News website posted a montage of Trump voters who are pining for a less “polarizing” hero. And last Friday, when Trump was in Arizona staging his latest hate/self-pity rally, Fox News counter-programmed by airing an interview with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Ah, here’s where we spotlight the bad news. Read more

Hillary Clinton keeps getting it right

By
May 4, 2022
In Commentary

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the funeral service for former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the Washington National Cathedral April 27, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Just as it’s a waste of time for Republicans to refight the results of the 2020 election, it certainly does no good for anti-MAGAs to refight what happened in the previous race. Nevertheless, I wince on occasion when I contemplate how our country would’ve been far better served if the popular vote winner in 2016 had ascended to the Oval Office.

Last Wednesday was one such occasion, truly wince-worthy.

While eulogizing Madeleine Albright at Washington’s National Cathedral, I was struck by these passages:

“Freedom can’t be taken for granted. Democracy must be defended. Peace must be won. And there is no time to waste doing any of that…(Albright) continued to issue blunt warnings about the dangers posed by authoritarianism and fascism with undeniable moral clarity … She talked about the importance of what President Biden is doing to rally the world against Putin’s horrific invasion of Ukraine and the urgent work of defending democracy at home and around the world. She knew better than most and she warned us in her book on fascism, that yes, it can happen here, and time and courage are of the essence … This must be a season of action. And yes, once again, we must heed the wisdom of her life and the cause of her public service. Stand up to dictators and demagogues, from the battlefields of Ukraine, to the halls of our own capital. Defend democracy at home, just as vigorously as we do abroad.”

Albright indeed warned us about encroaching fascism – in 2018, she said: “There are conditions out there that provide the petri dish for something terrible to happen” – but let’s not forget that back when it mattered most, with America at a crossroads,

Hillary Clinton warned us, over and over, about what would happen if the opposition’s demagogue was handed the reins of power. She had faults as a candidate, but ultimately it was not her fault that a small but fatal share of clueless, oblivious, feckless, or willfully deaf Americans stayed home in the handful of states that swung the antiquated Electoral College.

She got it right during the 2016 debates when she spoke directly to Trump: Read more

Rupert Murdoch is launching Fox Weather. What could possibly go wrong?

By
July 15, 2021
In Commentary

(Image: pxHere.com).

This is for real: Rupert Murdoch will soon launch a new platform, Fox Weather.

Wrap your head around that one. Brian Wieser, a prominent media analyst, said it best the other day: “How do you address the fact that weather changes are caused to some degree by humans when you have a media property with a history of challenging that fact?”

Hmmm.

“…And for the latest Big Beautiful 10-day American Greatness Forecast, let’s go to Sabrina at the big board. Sabrina?”

“Thank you, Tucker! Stay tuned, we’ll have that soon. In the meantime, I’m happy to report that red states are in for a treat this weekend as a high pressure system brings balmy temps and blue skies, fine weather for cleaning your guns outdoors or joining up with other tourists at your favorite Capitol building. But Tucker, there’s very different news elsewhere. Would you like me to share?”

“That would be mighty white of you.”

“It does appear that the Pacific Northwest, and we all know how those states voted, will boil in 125 degrees, with rampant wildfires in the areas where they don’t rake the forests. Why God is seeing fit to punish that region, we can only speculate on His motives at this time, but suffice it to say that tomorrow in particular may be the worst day for those folks since Ashli Babbitt was shot.”

“Sabrina, some elites will surely say that those high temps are further ‘evidence’ of what they theorize as ‘climate change,’ but what does your reporting tell you?”

“Tucker, I’m getting high readings on the Chinese Hoaxmeter, so let’s leave it for the viewers to decide.”

“And questions need to be asked whether it’s just a coincidence that all this is happening at the same time that blue states are forcing our kids to learn critical race theory.”

“Which also may account for the sustained high winds that are expected in other blue states, where some say that the wind turbines will kill tens of millions of birds.”

“Right you are, Sabrina. Seems like what this country needs this weekend is a massive tax cut.”

(Mutual laughter). “Right back to ya, Tucker. But just to be fair and balanced, it does look like some southern areas of Real America will be hit this weekend with record flooding and endless rain, so it might be advisable for those patriots to get out the ole umbrella and go live for awhile in a rescue shelter where unvaccinated people aren’t persecuted.”

“Any remote chance that the flooding could spread into ungovernable Democrat strongholds?”

“Not at this time, Tucker, but if I take my Sharpie pen…there…fixed it!”

“Thank you Sabrina. Is there any confirmable good news out there?”

“Well, it does look like Miami is under water, and we all know how Miami-Dade County voted.”

“I’m sure the alarmists will have a different theory. By the way, have you finished tabulating the 10-day American Greatness Forecast?”

“We have indeed, Tucker. But we don’t like the downbeat results – too much ‘extreme’ weather in too many places – so we’re going to send the data out to Arizona for an audit.”

“Right you are, Sabrina, you never know what Hugo Chavez may be up to. Stay tuned, we’ll be back in a minute after this message from Beautiful Clean Coal.”

Cagle Syndicate Photo

Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.net. He is a contributor the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, which first published this essay.