Here’s what you need to understand about Rupert Murdoch and his sprawling media empire. They’ve never really liked populists, never trusted the instincts of actual voters, and they sure as hell don’t want JD Vance anywhere near the Oval Office in 2028.
The evidence is everywhere if you’re paying attention. Fox News, the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal. All three flagship properties have launched what can only be described as a coordinated assault on the Vice President following GOP losses in last week’s midterm elections. The pattern isn’t subtle. It’s the same playbook Murdoch’s people ran against Trump in 2016, then again when they tried to prop up Ron DeSantis in the 2024 primary. You’d think they’d learn after failing twice, but apparently old habits die hard when you’re a billionaire media mogul who thinks he knows better than the people who actually vote.
Vance had the audacity to point out something pretty obvious after the midterms. Republicans got shellacked partly because the war in Iran turned into a political disaster. He said it plainly, the way normal people talk about real problems. And for that honesty, the Murdoch machine went into overdrive. The New York Post slapped him with headlines that might as well have been written by Democratic opposition researchers. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, that bastion of country club conservatism, piled on with their own attacks. Mark Levin and Brian Kilmeade on Fox News joined the chorus, along with Marc Thiessen, who’s been beating the drum for escalation with Iran like it’s his personal mission from God.
You know what’s particularly rich about all this? President Trump himself backed up Vance completely. He went even further than his Vice President during a 60 Minutes interview, confirming what Vance said about public sentiment regarding Israel and the broader Middle East quagmire. So the media’s transparent attempt to drive a wedge between Trump and Vance fell flat on its face. When that happens, when your narrative collapses before it even gets going, a normal person might reconsider their approach. But we’re not dealing with normal people here. We’re dealing with an empire that’s convinced it should decide who leads the Republican Party.
A senior Trump administration official didn’t mince words when asked about the situation. "How many different talking heads are responsible for talking the President into this mess in the first place?" the official said, specifically calling out Levin, Kilmeade, and Thiessen. "These morons all advocated, relentlessly for this shit show. They’ve all lost whatever credibility they once had in the White House." That’s the kind of blunt assessment you rarely hear on the record, and it tells you just how furious Trump’s inner circle has become.
The real story goes deeper than a few bad headlines though. Sources say Murdoch himself has been personally working the phones since election night, calling major GOP donors and Republican operatives with a simple message. Trump is done, MAGA is dead, and it’s time to move on. Never mind that Trump and Vance won seven swing states just months ago. Never mind that the populist nationalist movement they represent commands the loyalty of tens of millions of Americans. Murdoch has decided it’s over, so it must be over. That’s how these people think.
This isn’t about journalism or even political commentary anymore. It’s about control. The Murdoch properties want a Republican Party that checks certain boxes. Open borders dressed up as "compassionate immigration reform." Trade policies that prioritize global corporate interests over American workers. A foreign policy that treats military intervention as the default setting rather than the last resort. Traditional conservatives, the kind who actually believe in limited government and putting America first, don’t fit that template. We’re too inconvenient, too unpredictable, too willing to say what regular people are already thinking.
The pattern has repeated itself so many times it’s almost boring. In 2016, Fox anchors and personalities tried desperately to kneecap Trump and boost his primary rivals. Failed spectacularly. Then came the 2024 primary, when the network aggressively promoted DeSantis as the Trump alternative. Meatball, as Trump world affectionately called him, couldn’t get traction despite millions in favorable coverage. Trump won the nomination anyway, picked Vance despite the Murdoch empire’s lobbying for literally anyone else, and then crushed Kamala Harris in November.
A veteran operative from the 2024 Trump campaign put it perfectly. "Every time a Republican primary begins, you can count on Rupert Murdoch to put his finger on the scale for the worst candidate imaginable. He did the same thing when he tried to anoint Meatball in 2024 and box President Trump out from returning to the White House. This is that exact same show all over again."
Here’s the thing about these repeated failures. They should matter. When you’re wrong about the fundamentals of American politics this many times in a row, when your preferred candidates keep losing and the candidates you oppose keep winning, maybe that’s a sign you don’t understand the country as well as you think you do. But self-reflection requires humility, and humility isn’t exactly a defining characteristic of people who own media empires.
The broader implications are worth considering. What happens when major media properties, ostensibly conservative outlets, consistently work against the actual preferences of conservative voters? You get a disconnect that breeds cynicism and mistrust. Ordinary Republicans start to wonder whose side these people are really on. Are they conservative, or are they just corporate interests wrapped in red ties? Do they care about the same things we care about, or are they playing a different game entirely with different stakes and different goals?
Trump world sees what’s happening and they’re not staying quiet about it this time. The peace that existed between the President and Murdoch’s properties after the 2024 victory is now threatened, maybe permanently. There’s only so many times you can get burned before you stop trusting the person holding the match. The administration official’s comments about lost credibility weren’t just venting. They were a warning shot.
Vance himself represents everything the establishment fears about the future of conservatism. He’s young, articulate, understands both the working class and the policy details, and he’s not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom when conventional wisdom produces conventional disasters. He didn’t emerge from the usual farm system of think tanks and consultant-approved talking points. He speaks directly, sometimes controversially, but always with the sense that he’s actually thought about these issues rather than just memorizing approved responses.
The war in Iran point is perfect example. Everyone in Washington knew it was becoming a political nightmare for Republicans. Poll numbers were terrible. Voters across the spectrum were exhausted by another Middle Eastern conflict with unclear objectives and no exit strategy. But most politicians were too scared to say it out loud because the foreign policy establishment, the defense contractors, the永远战争 crowd would have destroyed them. Vance said it anyway because it was true. And for telling the truth, he got attacked by people who helped create the problem in the first place.
That’s what really galls Trump’s allies about this whole situation. The same media figures who cheerleaded the policies that led to electoral disaster are now attacking the people who had the courage to point out those policies failed. It’s backwards. It’s dishonest. And it reveals whose interests are really being served by these supposedly conservative outlets.
The 2028 election is still years away, but the positioning has already begun. If Vance decides to run, and he probably will, he’ll face the full weight of the Murdoch empire trying to stop him. They’ll promote some alternative who talks about "electability" and "broadening the base" and all the other euphemisms for abandoning the policies that actually win elections. And just like in 2016 and 2024, they’ll probably fail again because they fundamentally misunderstand what Republican voters want.
What Republican voters want, it turns out, is pretty simple. They want leaders who say what they mean and mean what they say. They want policies that put American workers and American families first instead of managing America’s decline with a smile. They want someone who’ll fight the establishment rather than join it. Trump gave them that. Vance gives them that. Some slick consultant-approved candidate chosen by Rupert Murdoch won’t give them that, which is why those candidates keep losing.
The message from Trump world to Murdoch is clear even if it’s not formally delivered. We see what you’re doing, we know why you’re doing it, and it won’t work this time either. The movement you’re trying to kill just won the White House. The Vice President you’re trying to destroy is more popular with the base than any of your preferred alternatives. Find a new strategy or keep failing with the old one. Either way, we’re not going anywhere.
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