Rocio Muñoz-Ledo
(CNN) — One of Donald Trump’s favorite newspapers — controlled by his media ally Rupert Murdoch — says Trump is “unworthy to be president of this country once more.”
Those words, in this weekend’s New York Post, may be the tabloid’s strongest criticism of Trump yet.
ANALYSIS | Is the world of Fox News and Murdoch turning once morest Trump?
It was posted online Friday night, around the same time that another Murdoch publication, the Wall Street Journal, also published an editorial scathingly criticizing the former president.
The Journal called him “The President Who Was Arrested on January 6” and praised Vice President Mike Pence. “Character reveals itself in a crisis, and Mr. Pence passed his trial on January 6. Mr. Trump completely failed his,” the Journal editorial stated.
Both newspapers have been notably more critical of Trump than Murdoch’s biggest megaphone of all, Fox News Channel, though nearby viewers have also picked up some signs that Fox might be angry with Trump.
The right-wing television no longer shows his rallies, for example. Potential 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, was a featured guest on Fox as Trump held a rally Friday night.
Both the Post and The Wall Street Journal have conservative editorial boards that are believed to reflect the views of Murdoch, who said last fall that conservatives should play an active role in American political debate, “but that won’t happen if President Trump Stay focused on the past.”
If Murdoch was trying to give Trump advice, it didn’t work. Trump has continued to spread lies regarding the 2020 election and undermine the House investigation into the January 6 insurrection.
January 6 commission focused on how Trump failed to act while Capitol Hill was under attack
After the House committee’s first prime-time hearing last month, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board said the evidence was a reminder that “Trump betrayed his supporters.”
While editorialists have remained skeptical of the House committee and have criticized the lack of cross-examination of witnesses, they wrote the following Friday, following the second prime-time hearing: “Regardless of your points From the point of view of the special commission on January 6, the facts that it is presenting in the hearings are sobering. The most horrific to date came Thursday at a hearing into President Trump’s conduct as the riot raged and he sat around watching television, posting incendiary tweets and refusing to send aid.”
Instead of making excuses or changing the subject, as some conservative commentators have done, The Wall Street Journal op-ed said Trump “failed” to do his duty as commander-in-chief.
The Post’s editorial page, which wrote last month that “we need a fresh start” with “a new crop of conservatives,” went further in its editorial following Thursday’s primetime hearing.
“It’s up to the Justice Department to decide if this is a crime,” the Post said. “But as a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven unworthy to be the president of this country once more.”
The-CNN-Wire
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