The revelations in the Dominion litigation against Fox News brought to light an irreparable break between the unholy coalition of Fox News, the “GOP” legislators and infrastructure and Trump and his supporters. The "GOP" is splintering into more and more fragments as s result of Fox's melt down.
The fight between Fox and Trump is becoming really ugly, fast. At the CPAC Conference, a desperate Trump’s home from home, that is getting smaller and smaller, Steve Bannon, Trump’s anarchist supporter, declared open warfare on the “foreigner” Murdoch and his media accusing them of abandoning and disrespecting “President” Trump”.
Trump fumed for two hours as the keynote CPAP speaker and was maniacally off the charts promising "retribution" and spewing statements such as "......killings are taking place at a number like nobody's ever seen in Manhattan... How's Portland doing?. They don't even have storefronts anymore... because they get burned down every week... " . Almost simultaneously the battle for the return to the values of the Grand Old Party took a massive hit when Paul Ryan one time GOP House Speaker, strangely, allied himself with Fox rather than with the former Republican operatives and intelligentsia.
Fox is being ostracized by all and sundry. Even the Democrats called interviews on Fox quits after the Dominion revelations showed that Fox had shared confidential advertising and debate data with Jared Kushner in the 2020 Presidential election. As these are considered campaign contributions a complaint has been lodged with the Federal Electoral Council.
The question further is whether Fox News, the dominant news channel in the USA, is finished, kaput. The Dominion Company litigation has demanded 1.6 billion dollars in damages and an unspecified amount in punitive damages from Murdoch’s Fox. In addition the software company involved is suing them for another billion dollar sum. The mighty empire that Rupert Murdoch has built over three continents, over five decades, where he literally dominated in the highest portals of power, is on the verge of crumbling.
.THE “GOP”, TRUMP AND FOX NEWS COALITION DISINTEGRATES
The coalition consisting of the “GOP” legislators and infrastructure, Trump and the Fox Media that previously functioned as one can no longer be reconciled. It is now evident that Fox and Tump are not on the same page with regard to the Big Lie. Furthermore Murdoch, his administrative staff and his anchors are all potentially antagonistic parties in the whirlwind that they have been caught up in. Who is going to turn on who to save their souls?
In addition decisions made by Trump's brigade, in the House of Representative’s, as a trade off for their tepid qualified support to elect “My Kevin” as Speaker are now contrary to Trump’s priorities. The Donald can surely have no desire to boost Fox News ratings after what the smooth lying anchors and Murdoch have said about him?
There is even a tussle as to whether the compromised Fox should be the “GOP” propaganda machine in the future. Paul Ryan, former Republican Speaker, as a member of the Fox News Board cannot see the wood for the trees. He believes now that Trump and Fox have separated, the limping Fox can still remain the major platform for the “GOP” minus Trump. At the moment he is out on his own.
So there is much to examine not the least of which is that there is more damning evidence to come and this is not Murdoch’s first rodeo. His previous history in the United Kingdom shows how he can and has wielded immense power and influence through his media.
First, the applicable law in the Dominion litigation and the case against Fox.
THE APPLICABLE LAW IN THE CASE AGAINST FOX
To the uninitiated, this is civil litigation where the good news for Dominion, the Plaintiffs, is that the defendants, Fox, are liable if there is merely a preponderance of evidence in their, Dominion’s, favor. So if the jury believes that the plaintiffs, Dominion, are 51% more likely to be right than Fox's 49%, then they Dominion win. This is a far lower bar than beyond a reasonable doubt which is required in a criminal case.That is the good news for Dominion. The bad news is that the precedents in these First Amendment cases require that the defendant, Fox, has not only to be shown to be lying, they have to know that they are and then still have carried on with the falsehoods. On the face of it the documents produced in Dominion’s argument show that, that burden has been overcome. (See Blog: WHO IS AND ISN’T AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD TRUMP?
Legal commentators have been aghast at the evidence in the public eye at the moment and that the Fox cabal believed that they were so omnipotent that they didn’t have to bother to expunge their incriminating communications. The defendants, Murdoch et al, in order not to commit perjury when deposed, admitted that they knew that they were lying and that they perpetuated the lie that there was voter fraud. They also confessed their motives - fear of Trump, money and to maintain viewership. The anchors knew as did Murdoch that their providing a platform for Rudi Giuliani. Sydney Powell and the My Pillow Man to lie that the voting machines were able to alter votes, was motivated by money and the share price of Fox.
Trump had been Fox’s ticket into the portals of power and the chorus of chings on the cash register and now they were abandoning him. The following, that they had created by backing Trump, revolted at this decision. The medium that had profited off Trump was ready to discard him as he was a “loser” peddling insane theories. Murdoch was already backing the wuss, the boss of Disneyland, Mighty Mouse, Ron DeSantis. . As a reserve Nikki Haley was appearing regularly.
INFLUENTIAL MURDOCH FORMERLY THE PURVEYOR OF SMUT, SMEAR AND PORN NOW THE KING OF KNOWINGLY PEDDLING THE BIG LIE
Those who are celebrating the demise of this unashamed propagandist sensationalist television rag Fox News have to realize this ain’t over till the fat Murdoch is bankrupt and Fox ratings plummet. At the age of ninety - two this is not Murdoch’s first rodeo. His finances and influence have seen him rise even stronger from the ashes of a colossal scandal in the United Kingdom where Murdoch made the seed money he needed to finance and impact the political landscape of the USA. The saga is unbelievable but has been documented in Parliamentary Proceedings and Criminal Trials.
Murdoch’s empire was built in the 1980’s and 1990’s via two newspapers, The News of The World and The Sun. They produced sensationalism, smut, smear and gossip. The reporting of those rags included annihilating those who threatened the operation. Murdoch’s, Executive Editor Rebecca Brooks made a startling admission under oath to a probing parliamentarian, Chris Bryant, that they paid police for information. Bryant had his career cut short with the exposure that he was a homosexual. The data had been obtained from phone hacking by a Glen Mulcaire who hacked phones for Murdoch’s newspapers.
Mulcaire ended up in jail as did lower level reporters in the empire. The reason that the whole operation exploded was that one of the thousands who had been hacked, Gordon Taylor, sued. The latter received a settlement of seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds which was exponentially more than usual for such a case. Mulcaire also stupidly hacked Prince William’s phone. Murdoch dodged a bullet there as did his executive editor Brooks. Both pleaded ignorance.
What was amazing was the influence Murdoch had with British Prime Ministers for decades. His go between was an Andrew Coulson who also went to jail. Murdoch had entrees to Prime Minsters from Maggie Thatcher up until David Cameron, including Tony Blair. Blair immediately after his election pitched up to a Murdoch jamboree in Australia presumably to reassure him that his ambitions and deals would be backed.
When Murdoch was questioned by a United Kingdom parliamentary enquiry into the invasion of privacy that involved his media he denied any responsibility. Decades later because of the paper trail in the Dominion litigation, Murdoch could not deny responsibility. He admitted that he could have stopped the lies about the Big Lie and the fabrication that Dominion voting machines robbed Trump of his Presidency, but that he didn’t. He did however lay the ground for ducking responsibility pushing the Fox News Senior Executive editor, anchors and his son Lachlan the CEO into the frontline. He argued that some should even be fired.
Murdoch reached dizzy heights in America when he literally made a President. For years the Forty Fifth President was a free contributor to daily shows on Fox. Murdoch put calls through to “GOP” leaders such as McConnell. His anchors were confidants of the President.
Murdoch relayed the contents of Biden’s ads and his debate strategy to Jared Kushner. He instructed his media outlets to support the “GOP”and Chief Executive Susan Scott to see to it that Lindsey Graham was supported in his Senate campaign, with the comment, “That we cannot lose the Senate if at all possible”. In the special senate elections in Georgia he again advised Susan Scott, “To be helping any way we can”. There are several other tidbits in the documents revealed to the press of Murdoch’s role in the GOP and support of Trump’s electoral effort.
All this was accompanied by massive profits. Then it all unravelled with the Dominion litigation and now Murdoch is in uncharted waters. He may well throw anyone and everyone under the bus. However he may not only lose a boat load of money he could even be axed as head of the company he created, as he only controls 39 percent of the shares. Also the anchors could be culpable for persistently and knowingly defaming Dominion and others.
THE LINE FROM MCCARTHY GETS SKEWED AS TRUMP AND FOX FIGHT
One of the reported demands of Majorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, two of the Trump groupies who run the House “GOP” asylum, for voting for “My Kevin’s” elevation to the Speakership, was that he deliver all that January 6 video material as an “exclusive” to Fox top propagandist Tucker Carlson. That was before it was spread across the media that Tucker was in on the Fox agenda for axing Trump and that he thought that the Big Lie was just that,The Big Lie.
So what will Carson do? Will he show that the January 6 insurrection was nothing but a protest and feed into Trump’s central narrative when the Trump camp have declared war, He also has to be mindful of his own culpability. He was given this "exclusive" by “My Kevin” in the context that Fox and Trump were ad idem.
PAUL RYAN FORMER SPEAKER BELIEVES FOX IS ESSENTIAL FOR “GOP” SURVIVAL AND REJECTS THE “GOP” INTELLIGENTSIA WING
Paul Ryan the former Republican Speaker who has been on the Fox Board of Directors and was supposedly there as a buffer against insanity was shown to tolerate all and everything that was going on at the network, although he voiced his objections in private. He was always a “Never Trumper”. While the general consensus was Murdoch and Fox were beyond the pale, Ryan supposedly was the guardrail against the worst of excesses.
Ryan it is fair to say was considered to represent all that was good and wholesome in the old Republican Party - a continuation of the Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Reagan line. Yet he has not emerged as the savior the “GOP” need to lead them out of the wilderness. Ryan, to coin a phrase, was their last white hope. He argued however that Fox was part of the great big Conservative coalition that would bring back the good old days of Reagan and Kemp.
In a public forum there was a tense exchange between Ryan and Charlie Sykes, the former Republican strategist, who is now Editor in Chief of Bulwark. The latter is a highly influential platform for former Republicans operatives and intelligentsia.
Sykes: “How can you associate yourself with a company that is pumping toxic sludge, racism, disinformation and attacks on democracy, Do you have any responsibility?’.
Ryan: “I offer my perspective…..I think Fox is a big part of the constellation of the conservative movement.”
Sykes:”Is it the solution or the problem?”
Ryan: “….Fox News is gonna have to be a part of the solution… because there is no bigger platform in America…”.
Ryan has thus distanced himself from the policy wonks and intelligentsia of the Party he supposedly wants to resuscitate. In effect Ryan is forming a splinter group of the party with Fox behind him.
THE CURRENT “GOP” IS SPLINTERED TO SMITHEREENS
So there are a ton of fragments to the current “GOP”. There is the new Ryan/Fox axis and the GOP wannabe Presidential nominees split between those that are chancheless and not afraid of the big bad Trump and those with a chance who are afraid of the big bad Trump There is the influential previous policy wonk group led by Sykes who are looking for a candidate to back which really has to come from the chanceless crew now that Ryan has bolted, (See Blog: WHO IS AND ISN’T AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD TRUMP?
Out there on his own is Mitch McConnell in the Senate who nobody really knows where he is going. He no longer has the Senate lane on his own. His leadership was challenged by Senator Rick Scott from Florida who backed Trump’s losing candidates in the midterms.
Then there is McCarthy who is Speaker thanks to the Trumpists and Santos. Those Trumpists are at sixes and sevens as Fox implodes and dumps Trump. At the moment McCarthy is Trump's most influential supporter. However, when the issue of the extension of the Debt Ceiling comes to the floor his leadership will be challenged. McCarthy is committed to demand concessions from Biden. Biden’s State of The Union ad libbing has made it impossible to decrease Medicare and Social Security funding, the big ticket items. To add to the Speaker’s woes Trump strangely backed Biden’s stance
McCarthy will find out his big problem will be from the eighteen Congresspeople who triumphed in districts that Biden won. They have to decide whether they are going to agree with McCarthy to cut other welfare programs which are popular in their constituencies. They also have to be mindful that Biden’s majorities in many of the special elections since 2022 have been increasing.
Finally, the CPAC Conference where every “GOP” hopeful, in the past clamored to be featured was given a wide berth by nearly all the wannabes, except Nikki Haley, who educated them on the facts of life, that in the last six presidential election cycles the “GOP” has only gained the popular vote once. CPAC is where Trump’s following come to pay homage. Although only half full, it saw Trump, with Bannon opening for him, giving the faithful red meat.
Trump still has to be the favorite to win the nomination in a big field as he commands at least forty percent of the Republican electorate.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
It can only go downhill from here for Fox and. Murdoch.
Syke’s group if they can’t get a viable candidate will be forced to join the Democrats and become part of their “blue dog” conservative wing
Biden is the oldest President ever. He will be the oldest President to be re elected.
Speaker McCarthy cannot be the shortest serving speaker in history, In 1869 the Speaker only lasted one day.
Fox is about to be consumed by the monster they helped to create. Who do you think that the twenty percent of Americans who are “Forever Trumpers” will follow? Fox or Trump? Will Trump supporters abandon Fox and move to the smaller competitive right wing media?
One fact is for sure if Trump doesn’t get the nomination he will ensure that no other “Republican” will become President.
What will the "faithful "do when Trump get’s indicted? And are the "faithful" diminishing? In a diminished CPAC Trump only received 62% of the vote as "GOP" nominee for 2024.
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