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Report: Murdochs Lose Confidence in Ron DeSantis’s Ability to Defeat Trump
Breitbart ^ | 11 Jul 2023 | JORDAN DIXON-HAMILTON

Posted on 07/13/2023 8:18:42 AM PDT by SoConPubbie

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who has bolstered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) national profile through Fox News and other outlets he and his family own, is reportedly losing confidence in DeSantis’s ability to defeat former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, Rolling Stone reported.

One Fox News insider told Rolling Stone that Rupert and his son Lachlan Murdoch “are transactional and can smell a loser a mile away.”

A senior Fox source told the outlet Murdoch’s “understandable worry is that we may end up being stuck with Trump anyway.”

“And DeSantis is underperforming. Anybody can see that … [and the Murdochs], they’re seeing it, too,” the source added.

Rolling Stone spoke with two individuals who speak to the Murdochs, three well-placed sources at Fox, and three others briefed on the situation, who all spoke on conditions of anonymity to divulge the contents of private discussions.

Murdoch’s growing concern about DeSantis’s campaign is evident in recent Fox News coverage and editorial board articles from the New York Post, an outlet also owned by the Murdoch family. The increased pressure on DeSantis from these outlets is “not by accident,” and “not a coincidence,” according to Rolling Stone’s sources.

For Example, Fox News host Will Cain pressed DeSantis for answers about his poor poll numbers in an interview last week.

“I have to ask you, governor, this: Why do you think, despite those successes, so far, it hasn’t been reflected in your polling for your 2024 run for president of the United States?” Cain asked DeSantis.

Days later, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo posed a similar question, bluntly asking DeSantis, “What’s going on with your campaign?”

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: desantis; trump
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Most recently, DeSantis lost support from top America First movement figures such as Mike Cernovich after DeSantis’s press secretary Jeremy Redfern accused detractors of being “dishonest” after raising questions about DeSantis’s past comments about then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into “Russian collusion” between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian agents.

The Murdochs are not alone in their concerns about DeSantis’s ability to dethrone Trump from the top of the polls. Steve Cortes, who advises the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, recently admitted the DeSantis campaign faces an “uphill battle” in the GOP primary.

“Right now in national polling we are way behind, I’ll be the first to admit that,” Cortes noted before recognizing that “Donald Trump is the runaway frontrunner.”

"The Meatball" is losing favor with the Globalists and NeoCons.
1 posted on 07/13/2023 8:18:42 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
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To: SoConPubbie

—> reportedly losing confidence in DeSantis’s ability to defeat former President Donald Trump

And THAT is why there is funding for a desantis campaign.


2 posted on 07/13/2023 8:25:07 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Seems strange that the Murdoch family would lose faith in DeSantis when they put a proven loser, Ryan, on their board. He has Ryanized Fox to being a fourth rate network.


3 posted on 07/13/2023 8:30:37 AM PDT by chopperk
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To: chopperk

—> when they put a proven loser, Ryan, on their board.

Agree.

Maybe it was part of the bigger plan to weaponize fox to elect RINOs?

But the will have to choose a candidate to back and desantis is dropping against trump.

I don’t think they care about profits.


4 posted on 07/13/2023 8:33:45 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything)
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To: SoConPubbie

Ya think? 😆


5 posted on 07/13/2023 8:38:11 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: SoConPubbie

But...but...he has such a cute wife.


6 posted on 07/13/2023 8:42:31 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

“I don’t think they care about profits.”

The government will feed them money through public service announcements or ads by bought off companies. The government has bought off the universities, health care companies, auto makers, drug companies, etc. The government has gotten so large they effectively dictate everything.


7 posted on 07/13/2023 8:47:24 AM PDT by alternatives?
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To: SoConPubbie
Hey Ron!

"We must reject the culture of losing that has impacted" your campaign. "The time for excuses is over".

8 posted on 07/13/2023 8:47:56 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: SoConPubbie

what’s hard to believe is that the murdochs ever believed that desantis had any chance at all in defeating trump ...

seems more likely that our feudal overlords support desantis as a backup in the event that the fascists manage to take trump out one way or another ...


9 posted on 07/13/2023 8:48:20 AM PDT by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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To: SoConPubbie

Meatball’s silence on issues like this...

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/michigan-judge-opens-potential-charges-against-trump-supporters-ruling-voting

...speaks volumes.

But if he’s Deep State’s candidate, that’s all the support he needs.


10 posted on 07/13/2023 8:50:29 AM PDT by mewzilla (We will never restore the republic if we don't first secure the ballot box.)
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To: SoConPubbie

One Fox News insider told Rolling Stone that Rupert and his son Lachlan Murdoch “are transactional and can smell a loser a mile away.”


That’s a laughable assertion.


11 posted on 07/13/2023 8:54:57 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: alternatives?

Yes


12 posted on 07/13/2023 8:56:24 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Fraud vitiates everything)
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To: catnipman

“what’s hard to believe is that the murdochs ever believed that desantis had any chance at all in defeating trump ...”

When you are desperate to avoid facing reality you will believe all sorts of stupid things.


13 posted on 07/13/2023 8:56:33 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: SoConPubbie

I have lost faith in the Murdoch family a long time ago.


14 posted on 07/13/2023 9:03:59 AM PDT by Parley Baer (WI)
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To: SoConPubbie

The Murdochs have well and truly shat the bed.

They went all in on sticking the knife in Trump’s back thus losing a large portion of their audience on election night 2020. Then in yet another stroke of pure genius they fired their biggest star by a mile and lost half their remaining audience. They went all in on backing DeSantis over Trump and that is failing miserably too.

Their former audience does not trust them and will never be back. The runaway leader of the Republican party, Trump doesn’t trust them either. They have nowhere to go. The RINO portion of the Republican party is by far the smaller and is much older - meaning its ranks get thinned by mortality every year.

It took extra special effort to screw up completely owning half the market because everybody else was too stupid and incompetent to serve it, but the Murdochs have managed to be stupid enough to blow it.


15 posted on 07/13/2023 9:11:07 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: catnipman

The Murdochs and the RINOs were arrogant enough to think they were the kingmakers and could foist DeSantis on us.

They’ve learned the hard way that they don’t have nearly the influence they thought and they did irreversible damage to their network by trying.


16 posted on 07/13/2023 9:13:27 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: SoConPubbie
"The Meatball" is losing favor with the Globalists and NeoCons.

No other Meatball in the eGOP Circus Tent will fair any better than DeSantis against Trump. They may as well continue to waste their money and efforts on Ron.

17 posted on 07/13/2023 9:15:06 AM PDT by BlackbirdSST (Trump or Bust! Long live the Republic.)
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To: SoConPubbie

An awesome four years would be Fox News reporters asking questions at WH press briefings to Trump’s PR man Tucker.


18 posted on 07/13/2023 9:17:17 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: SoConPubbie

DeSantis is actually managing to run a worse campaign than Jeb Bush.


19 posted on 07/13/2023 9:18:29 AM PDT by Kazan
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To: SoConPubbie
One Fox News insider told Rolling Stone that Rupert and his son Lachlan Murdoch “are transactional and can smell a loser a mile away.”

This makes no sense. If they could smell a loser a mile away, then why did they back him in the first place?

20 posted on 07/13/2023 9:22:52 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've just pissed in my pants and nobody can do anything about it." -- Major Fambrough)
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