Rupert Murdoch reportedly 'thinks Trump is going to crash and burn' in November


Fox News stars Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt have been dating for months, after quiet divorces last year, Gabriel Sherman reports at Vanity Fair. "As Donald Trump's poll numbers slide, Hannity's and Earhardt's loyalty is increasingly valuable, especially since, at the corporate level, confidence in Trump is waning. Two sources said Rupert Murdoch has recently told people that he believes Trump is going to lose in November. 'Rupert thinks Trump is going to crash and burn. It's a clear-eyed assessment, just based on just looking at the news,' said a person who has spoken with Murdoch about the election."
Fox News is at least nominally run by Lachlan Murdoch, network founder Rupert Murdoch's son, and Sherman has been reporting for a year that things are icy between Hannity and especially the younger Murdoch. Trump himself has been publicly criticizing Fox News and touting a fringier upstart competitor.
It may not matter what either Murdoch thinks. "At Fox, Hannity and Earhardt are among the last bastion of unwavering Trump loyalists," Sherman notes. "Fox & Friends and Hannity's prime-time show bracket each day of news with ego-stroking segments where Trump is always victorious over his Democratic and media enemies." According to the polls, reality has been watching a different channel.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Cracker Barrel crackup: How the culture wars are upending corporate branding
In the Spotlight Is it 'woke' to leave nostalgia behind?
-
'It's hard to discern what it actually means'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump lambasts crime, but his administration is cutting gun violence prevention
The Explainer The DOJ has canceled at least $500 million in public safety grants
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year