Fox News chief Roger Ailes continues to promote Donald Trump’s candidacy even as Ailes’ boss, Rupert Murdoch, has made it clear he wants Trump to just shut up.

Over the weekend, Rupert Murdoch tweeted, "When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?" But, as Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy made very clear when he likened Trump to a Navy SEAL, Fox News' Roger Ailes thinks Trump is just ducky.

On July 21, The New York Times reported on other Murdoch efforts to shoo Trump off the stage of the 2016 election:

On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal, the crown jewel of Mr. Murdoch’s print company, News Corporation, published a scathing editorial calling Mr. Trump a “catastrophe.” And The Post’s front page screamed, “DON VOYAGE,” under a headline declaring, “Trump is toast.”

Of course, it hasn’t worked, at least not yet. Trump got a mostly sympathetic and friendly interview on The O’Reilly Factor Monday night, Megyn Kelly deliberately validated Trump Tuesday night, and yesterday, there was that fawning interview on Fox & Friends.

In other words, Murdoch has lost control of his own property, Fox News.

Gabriel Sherman has more at New York Magazine:

This week, Ailes told his senior executives during a meeting that Murdoch recently called him and asked if Fox could “back off the Trump coverage,” a source told me. Ailes is said to have boasted to his executives that he told Murdoch he was covering Trump “the way he wanted to.” The implication was that he wasn’t going to budge. 

… Murdoch’s public and private attempts to temper Ailes make Sunday’s Wall Street Journal editorial all the more fascinating. The piece — which carries no mention of Fox — excoriated the conservative media “apologists” that have been backing Trump. “Too many have adopted the view that there can be no adversary to their right,” the Journal said. “This was mainly a left-wing affliction in the last century as many liberals refused to condemn Communists. But today many on the right seem willing to indulge any populist outburst no matter how divorced from reality or insulting to most Americans. If Donald Trump becomes the voice of conservatives, conservatism will implode along with him.” 

Inside Fox News, the Journal editorial is clearly seen by some as a message to Ailes. It seems doubtful, however, that he is listening. “Roger claims not to care,” an insider said. 

Grab the popcorn!

Trump caricature by DonkeyHotey