Just as predicted, the Murdochs’ New York Post tossed aside its position that Donald Trump is unfit to go back to the White House and now calls him “the clear choice.”
You may recall that after Donald Trump looked like the big loser of the 2022 midterm elections, Murdoch world wanted to be rid of him. A November 10, 2022 New York Post tweet says it all:
Today's cover: Here’s how Donald Trump sabotaged the Republican midterms https://t.co/YUtDosSGfp pic.twitter.com/vpI94nKuBh
— New York Post (@nypost) November 10, 2022
Even Fox News sent some obvious hints that Trump should get out of the way. That same day, New York’s former Governor George Pataki, a Republican, said, on the air, “I just wish he would ride off into the sunset.” Pataki also predicted that if Gov. Ron DeSantis ran in a Republican primary for the 2024 nomination, “he would blow [Trump] away.” Sigh.
As I wrote in a November 11, 2022 post for Crooks and Liars (where I am a contributor), even Trump-worshiper Harris Faulkner took shots at her (presumably) favorite self-declared p***y grabber.
But I also wrote that “the narcissistic Trumpenstein they all helped create is not likely to slink away into a corner ... And I can assure you that if Trump becomes the 2024 front runner, Fox will fall back in line with him as fast as you can say, ‘some very fine people on both sides.’” In a NewsHounds post that day, I wrote that the Murdochs "will fall in line just as quickly, too.” That post was titled, Just Because The Murdochs Want To Be Rid Of Trump Doesn’t Mean They Will.
I hate to be an “I told you so” in this case but – well, I was right. Even though on July 22, 2022, in an editorial called, Trump’s silence on Jan. 6 is damning, the Post Editorial Board wrote that while it will be up to the Department of Justice to determine whether Trump committed a crime, “as a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.”
Since then, Trump has been found guilty of 34 felonies for fraudulently paying hush money to a porn star in order to hide their sexual relations from voters. He has also been charged with four federal felony crimes related to his Jan. 6 behavior, 13 felony crimes in Georgia (ten of which remain after three were thrown out) for, essentially, trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election there, 40 felony crimes in federal court for stealing classified documents (the case was thrown out by Trump-judge Aileen Cannon but the ruling has been appealed).
Trump has also been found liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll and ordered to pay her $83 million for defaming her after she accused him. And he has a judgment pending against him, currently under appeal, for more than $478 million for, as Politico put it, having “fraudulently inflated his net worth and the value of his real estate properties to obtain favorable rates from banks and insurers.”
But the New York Post now believes Trump is not only worthy to be president again, he’s the “clear choice” against Kamala Harris who, I will point out has never been charged with, much less convicted of, any crimes. She has not been accused of trying to overthrow any election, inciting an insurrection, stealing or mishandling our nation's secret materials, nor found to have committed fraud, sexual assault or defamation.
Now, for the Post, it’s who cares about character, democracy or criminal convictions, Trump's stated desire to terminate the Constitution and his cronies’ plan to turn America into an authoritarian, Christian Nationalist country – because Trump could be great for the economy! Just forget about how he botched the COVID pandemic and left office with three million fewer jobs than when he came in!
Here's a bit of how the Post described the coup-plotting, COVID-botching, p***y grabbing fraudulent felon it claims will be better for America than someone who will tax billionaires more:
His opponents focus on how Trump’s administration was marked by a relentless soap opera of high drama and chaos — much of which they fueled.
And yes, many find him offensive — and we say fair enough: He can be ridiculously hyperbolic.
But before COVID wreaked havoc across the globe, Trump’s first-term results were paychecks that grew markedly faster than inflation, the lowest unemployment in 50 years, a secure border and peace overseas.
Donald Trump is the laughingstock of world leaders. But according to the Post, he will “lead” us to “An America that’s respected on the world stage — feared by our enemies and trusted by our allies.”
The Post also describes the obviously rambling, incoherent and seriously diminished Trump as follows:
Today, Trump exhibits the same strength and vigor as he did in 2016, despite the unprecedented and disgraceful weaponization of the justice system against him, two assassination attempts and the all-too-familiar constant barrage of hysterical media attacks on him.
Look, it’s one thing to argue that Trump’s policies would be good for America. It would have been honest and at least somewhat honorable to say something like, "We still have grave reservations about Trump's character but we have to give precedence to the fact that we think he'll be so much better for the economy and world politics." The fact that the Post pretended Trump's only drawback is being "ridiculously hyperbolic" speaks volumes.
But only a group with the most cynical disregard for our democracy, laws and Constitution – not to mention decency – could go from calling Trump “unworthy,” mocking him as “Trumpty Dumpty” and – 34 felony convictions, multiple felony charges, one sexual assault and hundreds of millions in a fraud judgment later, plus a a poor record of handling the COVID crisis and a plan waiting in the wings to install authoritarianism – to suddenly deciding he’s the guy to lead the country for the next four years.
Shame on them.
Today's cover: The Post endorses @realDonaldTrump for president — the clear choice for a better future https://t.co/CiLD355zqH pic.twitter.com/6LA8ed1nAm
— New York Post (@nypost) October 25, 2024
(Rupert Murdoch caricature by DonkeyHotey, via Flickr and Creative Commons license
There’s almost nothing that annoys me more than this patronizing reductive bullshit, that people don’t like Trump “because he says mean things.”
I couldn’t give less of a shit about his tone of voice or his choice of words, I care about what he DOES, and what he DOES proves that he’s utterly incompetent and incapable of the job. I’ve never been presented with a single shred of evidence to suggest he even did anything while he was in office besides sit on the couch, golf, or make word salad speeches while standing in front of Marine One.
My issues with Trump are legion, and somewhere at the end of a list thousands of entries long, there might be some point about how he’s an asshole when he speaks, but no, “saying means things” doesn’t even register in the broader scope of everything that makes that ‘man’ unfit for office.