Fox News Channel and The Wall Street Journal are corporate cousins. Specifically, both are owned by Rupert Murdoch. But you wouldn’t know it if you compared both outlets’ coverage of Donald Trump. While the fair and balanced network has been serving as a de facto cheering section for Trump’s attempt to buy the presidency, The Journal has pulled no punches in calling out Trump’s gaffes.
First, some background. Until 2013, Fox News and The Journal were both part of Murdoch’s News Corporation. In the summer of 2013, Newscorp split into two companies. The print interests, including The Journal, remained under the Newscorp banner. Fox News followed the rest of Murdoch’s film, television, and cable interests into 21st Century Fox. However, Murdoch serves as chairman of both companies. The two corporate cousins are headquartered in the same skyscraper on the Avenue of the Americas, or Sixth Avenue as New Yorkers call it.
On Sunday, The Journal ran a scathing editorial in which it not only slammed Trump, but also called out those on the right who “overlook his hucksterism.” This came less than 24 hours after Trump’s disgraceful swiftboating of John McCain. The Journal lamented that “conservative media elites” seem to cheer on “any populist outburst” even if it is “divorced from reality or insulting to most Americans.” If Trump becomes the voice of American conservatism, The Journal warns, the movement could very well “implode along with him.”
It’s pretty hard to believe that The Journal’s editorial board didn’t have its corporate cousins at Fox News in mind when it slammed Trump’s defenders. After all, several of Fox News’ top personalities rallied to Trump’s defense as Trump felt the backlash from his bigoted remarks about Mexican immigrants. In the space of 48 hours on June 29-30, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, and Steve Doocy all voiced support for Trump. It’s hard to believe that Fox News didn’t get at least some advance warning that The Journal’s editorial board was loaded for bear.
It doesn’t look like said warning was heeded, because on Monday, a number of Fox News personalities seemed to actually defend Trump’s attack on McCain. Doocy, for instance, claimed that Trump was actually going after McCain’s record in the Senate–a line echoed later in the day by Eric Bolling of “The Five.” Harris Faulkner of “Outnumbered” actually suggested McCain is responsible for opening himself up to possible swiftboating. I know, I know–I shouldn’t expect much from Fox News. But I thought Roger Ailes would have at least some standards. Shows how much I know.
While The Journal has always been a no-questions-asked conservative paper, it has usually been a voice of a more gentlemanly brand of Republicanism–harkening back to the days when “conservative” didn’t always mean “bat guano crazy.” Granted, it’s had a few lapses into lunacy, especially since Murdoch bought the paper.
But in this case, The Journal is more than justified in its concern about Trump. It knows, as do most of the saner elements of the GOP, that if Trump gets the nomination, it will likely result in a minimum 40-state Democratic landslide. And if he follows through on his threat to launch a third-party run, it will almost certainly have the effect of handing the Democrats a third straight election victory. The Journal is well aware that Trump could potentially lead the GOP in a double-time march off the cliff. Chances are it also knows its corporate cousin will be marching right along–and that we in Liberal America will be laughing all the way to the bank.
