FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
An embarrassing drawing of Epstein, Murdoch's refusal to cover it up, and Trump's $10 billion lawsuit, the end of an alliance that once led the American right.
As Rupert Murdoch sat in the luxury grandstand next to Donald Trump to watch Chelsea win the Club World Cup on Sunday, all seemed well in a relationship that has shaped conservative America for more than a decade.
But within hours, the US president would call the billionaire again, this time with requests not to publish an embarrassing letter allegedly from Trump in the 50th anniversary album of Jeffrey Epstein, the pedophile who would later die in prison.
The typewritten letter reportedly included a drawing of a naked woman, in which Trump's signature appears prominently, with a message wishing "every day will be another wonderful secret ."
Trump's demands to Murdoch were unsuccessful. The Wall Street Journal, one of the newspapers he owns, published the article on Thursday evening. Shortly after, Trump attacked Murdoch on social media, threatening to "sue him and his third-rate newspaper."
The next day he made good on that threat, filing a lawsuit against Murdoch and the parent companies of the Wall Street Journal.
The spectacular rupture signals that 94-year-old Murdoch is weighing whether Trump is losing his grip on the Maga movement because of the Epstein saga, according to people close to the media billionaire.
“I ’m testing him: is Trump losing his base in this case? And where do I need to be to stay in the heart of the base? ” said a former Murdoch lieutenant.
"Because Rupert thinks he's going to live forever. Rupert wants to outlive his [mother], who went on to be 102 or 103. He thinks there's still time and that Trump will come and go," he said.
Trump remains wildly popular among Republican voters, with 88 percent of Republican voters approving of the job he is doing as president, according to a recent CNN poll. But over the past week he has struggled to contain criticism from some of the biggest names in the gay movement over his administration's handling of the Epstein case.
Ish-prezantuesit e Fox News, Tucker Carlson dhe Megyn Kelly, së bashku me ndikuesit e Maga, Charlie Kirk dhe Laura Loomer, kanë qenë ndër zërat më të zhurmshëm që i bëjnë thirrje Trump të publikojë më shumë informacion ose të shkarkojë prokuroren e tij të përgjithshme, Pam Bondi, për trajtimin e saj të dokumenteve që lidhen me Epstein.
Megjithatë, Kelly, Kirk dhe Loomer ishin ndër mbështetësit e Trump që nxituan të hidhnin poshtë historinë e WSJ të enjten. Kelly e quajti atë "shkrimin më idiot të tentuar për ta goditur" që ajo kishte "lexuar ndonjëherë".
Të premten, Trump paditi Murdoch, Dow Jones dhe News Corp, në shembullin më të fundit të presidentit që kërkon të qetësojë shtypin me padi. Transmetuesit CBS dhe ABC paguan secili nga 16 milionë dollarë për të zgjidhur paditë me Trump, suksese për të cilat ai aludoi në kërcënimet e tij kundër Murdoch dhe WSJ.
Tirada dhe padia e Trump erdhën pas disa ditësh lobimi për të fshirë artikullin e Wall Street Journal. Ai dhe sekretarja e shtypit e Shtëpisë së Bardhë, Karoline Leavitt, bënë disa telefonata me redaktoren e Wall Street Journal, Emma Tucker, si dhe me Murdoch dhe drejtorin ekzekutiv të News Corp, Robert Thomson, sipas Trump dhe njerëzve të njohur me çështjen.
Trump pretendoi në një postim në Truth Social se Murdoch tha "se do të kujdesej për këtë". Por presidenti shtoi se Murdoch "natyrisht, nuk kishte fuqinë për ta bërë këtë".
Punonjësit aktualë dhe ish-punonjësit e Murdoch thonë se ai njihet për mbrojtjen e gazetarëve të tij.
“Për të gjitha tmerret që Rupert Murdoch ka bërë gjatë 60 viteve të fundit... ai është vërtet një njeri i gazetave”, tha Gabriel Kahn, një ish-korrespondent i Wall Street Journal i cili jep mësim gazetarie në Universitetin e Kalifornisë Jugore.
Kahn, ish-shefi i zyrës së Journal në Los Angeles, përmendi raste të shumta të drejtuesve të studiove të Hollivudit që e kishin telefonuar Murdoch-un duke u përpjekur të fshihte lajmet. “Murdoch u tha atyre: 'Më vjen keq, po publikohet'”.
Publikimi i raportit të WSJ është një goditje e re për marrëdhënien midis Murdoch dhe Trump, një aleancë që ka qenë jashtëzakonisht e dobishme për të dy burrat, por që ndonjëherë është dukur e torturuar.
Me kalimin e viteve, mbështetja e Murdoch për ish-yllin e reality show-t është rritur dhe është zvogëluar. Ai personalisht nuk ka qenë kurrë një tifoz i Trump, sipas njerëzve pranë tij. Ai ishte i ngadaltë në mbështetjen e Trump për president në vitin 2016 dhe u përpoq ta bashkonte partinë rreth kandidatëve të tjerë në vitin 2024.
Pas trazirave të 6 janarit në Uashington në vitin 2020, Murdoch i tha një drejtuesi ekzekutiv të Fox News se “ne duam ta bëjmë Trumpin një person jopersonal”, sipas emaileve të lëshuara si pjesë e një padie për rolin e saj në transmetimin e pretendimeve të rreme për mashtrim zgjedhor.
The Wall Street Journal editorial page, for decades a powerful voice of conservatism, has sharply criticized Trump during his second term on issues including tariffs, vaccines and immigration.
This criticism has clearly irked the president, who has labeled it the “globalist and always wrong Wall Street Journal.” In April, Trump said Murdoch “needs to start making changes to the China-loving Wall Street Journal. It’s terrible!!!”
Still, Trump's second term has been good business for the Journal. In the quarter ended March, the paper reached more than 4.3 million subscriptions, up 3% from a year earlier, with digital subscriptions up 5%.
Meanwhile, Fox has seen a surge in viewership since Trump's return to the White House, easily outpacing rival networks and on some evenings becoming the most-watched channel on all of American television. "Trump is incredibly important to Fox News, and Fox News is incredibly important to Murdoch," said media analyst Claire Enders.
Trump used the New York Post to promote himself as an up-and-coming real estate mogul in the 1970s and 1980s, sometimes publishing stories about himself in the gossip section of Page Six. But the paper seems to have turned on him in 2022, after Trump announced he would run for president again. The paper's headline was "I've been there, don't do that," and the story was forgotten by page 26.
The strange tension in their relationship was on display in February, when Murdoch appeared at the White House with a roomful of reporters to watch Trump sign an executive order. With Murdoch sitting just feet away, Trump called Murdoch a “great guy.” But he also told reporters he would “have to talk to him” about criticism from the Journal, which had just published an editorial criticizing his tariffs as “the most idiotic trade war in history.”
Within the Wall Street Journal editorial team, after the Epstein story was published, there was enthusiasm for having a "bombshell story."
There was a sense that the Journal, unlike ABC and CBS, would not be willing to pay Trump or his presidential library to settle the lawsuit. / Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “Financial Times”
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