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A new report asserts that News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch is predicting former Vice President Joe Biden will defeat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
The Daily Beast reports that multiple sources close to Murdoch say that the media mogul is increasingly displeased with how Trump has handled the coronavirus pandemic. While Murdoch has enjoyed the White House access afforded by the connection between Trump and Fox News, the report notes that “the two men have not spoken in several weeks,” Murdoch has grown “tired” of Trump’s complaints about the network’s coverage, and that his connection to Trump is purely out of business interest.
From the report:
At one point in the winter, as Murdoch grew increasingly frustrated with Trump, he even considered getting behind another Democratic candidate, having discussions about supporting Mike Bloomberg in his ill-fated presidential run, a Murdoch executive told The Daily Beast.In the run-up to the 2016 election, Murdoch twice tweeted his support for a Bloomberg run.But he is now firmly of the mindset that
the next president will be Biden, telling one associate, “after all that has gone on, people are ready for Sleepy Joe.”
When asked for comment, Murdoch declined except to say, “I’ve never called Trump an idiot.” This was in reference to an old claim Murdoch once described the president that way after a discussion on immigration.