Wall Street Journal Slams Trump as the ‘Biggest Loser’ as Murdoch’s Properties Continue to Hammer Former President
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump remained the target of blame for many in both the media and the Republican establishment for the GOP’s lackluster performance in the 2022 midterm elections on Tuesday.
One of the most notable – and harsh – critics of Trump since Election Day has been media properties owned by Rupert Murdoch, the right-leaning media mogul whose properties helped propel Trump into the presidency in 2016.
On Wednesday night, Murdoch’s flagship business publication, The Wall Street Journal, denounced Trump in an editorial dubbing him the GOP “biggest loser.”
“What will Democrats do when Donald Trump isn’t around to lose elections?” the editorial board asked after noting Trump has “now flopped in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022.”
“ We have to wonder because on Tuesday Democrats succeeded again in making the former President a central campaign issue, and Mr. Trump helped them do it,” the board added, parroting many political observers who argued Trump’s flurry of activity ahead of the election drove Democrats to the polls.
The editorial board went on to list all of the candidates, handpicked and endorsed by Trump, who the former president foisted on Republicans that went on to lose their races. From New Hampshire to Arizona to Pennsylvania to Georgia, the Journal argued that Trump’s “candidates failed at the ballot box in states that were clearly winnable.”
In the case of Pennsylvania, the board argues that Trump’s own actions cost Republican candidate Mehmet Oz in the final stretch of the campaign:
Mr. Trump could have stayed quiet in the final weeks of the campaign except to spend money to help his candidates. But he did little of the latter and instead staged rallies that played into Democratic hands. His rally in Latrobe last week might have hurt Mr. Oz with suburban voters who cost Mr. Trump the state in 2020.
The board concluded by implying it’s time for the GOP to move on Trump, writing, “Maybe by now Republicans are sick and tired of losing.”
The board’s Wednesday night editorial coincided with a blistering cover from the New York Post and an op-ed on Fox News Digital declaring “Ron DeSantis is the new Republican Party leader.”
Thursday’s cover of the Post portrayed Trump as English nursery rhyme character Humpty Dumpty. The headline reads, “Trumpty Dumpty,” with a cartoon image of Trump sitting atop a wall.
The subhead then asks, “Don (who couldn’t build a wall) had a great fall – can all the GOP’s men put the party together again?”
The cover story by John Podhoretz pulls no punches in attacking Trump. Podhoretz writes, “After 3 straight national tallies in which either he or his party or both were hammered by the national electorate, it’s time for even his stans to accept the truth: Toxic Trump is the political equivalent of a can of Raid.”
The day before, the Post ran a cover of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) with the headline, “DeFuture,” and a subhead announcing, “Young GOP star DeSantis romps to victory in Florida.”
Fox News meanwhile is offering Trump little quarter as the president’s former press secretary turned host, Kayleigh McEnany, implored Trump to delay his big announcement next week in which he is tipped to announce another run for the presidency. Fox News contributors like Jason Chaffetz also made clear that continued attacks on DeSantis are “not going to play well.”
