So they can turn on him, when they want to.
Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post has been savaging former president Donald Trump since the midterms, blaming him for the red wave that never was, calling him a loser. When the man who tried to steal an election and encouraged an insurrection announced his third bid for the presidency on Tuesday night, the Post was vicious again. Wednesday’s front page taunted him with the headline: “Florida man makes announcement,” and buried a brief, mocking story on Trump’s endless Mar-a-Lago speech on page 26.
Murdoch helped make Donald Trump. Now, it seems, he thinks the ex-president is disposable, and that he can break him.
The soulless media tycoon and assorted suck-ups saw fit to stick with Trump when he bragged about sexual assault, paid off a porn star, mocked vulnerable people, attacked judges, separated families, made racist and bigoted statements, gave tacit support to white supremacists, told thousands of lies, undermined democracy, cozied up to dictators, tried to extort Ukraine, stole classified documents, and was twice impeached. They now want to cut ties with him.
What is the one thing which suddenly disqualifies Trump in their eyes? Simple: He can no longer be counted on to give them control of the country.
When Trump was a winner, Murdoch and his ilk were all too happy to sacrifice lives, democracy, and decency for power, profits, and lower taxes. Now they’re hitching their wagons to the Florida star Ron DeSantis, the governor who is just as heartless as Trump, just as leery of democracy, but who so far offers a more disciplined vehicle for their ambitions.
Let’s see how that goes. Merciless New York Post coverage and soberly critical Wall Street Journal editorials can’t put Trump and his clown-show back into the tube. What Murdoch and the GOP have allowed him to unleash, encouraged him to unleash, might not have played well with the wider American electorate last week, but it won’t disappear.
That’s the thing about an operation like Murdoch’s: Propagandists can control only so much. At a certain point, the misinformation they spread gains such a deep hold that it takes on a life of its own.
In any case, we still have Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Alex Jones, and a legion of bloviators all-too-willing to keep the MAGA flowing. They’re so powerful, and profitable, at this point that it’s not clear Murdoch could rein them in even if he wanted to.
Like them, a good chunk of the country — and an even larger share of Republican voters — are still attached to the former president. And despite disastrous midterms, many of their champions are still in Congress, too. Soon-to-be House Speaker Kevin McCarthy must still contend with the berserko “freedom” caucus, officials devoted to their twin deities — Trump and their own fame — and entirely uninterested in actual governing.
It’s tempting to watch this GOP civil war and be entertained by the disarray, to enjoy this massive flock coming home to roost. But, like those people blocked when they tried to leave Trump’s interminable campaign kick-off early on Tuesday night, we can’t really get away from this mess.
The actual fascists emboldened and brought into the open by Trump still march in our streets, call bomb threats into hospitals, try to ban books, and reach into our children’s classrooms to impose their narrow view of the world.
The cruelty to which Trumpism gives license means governors like DeSantis and Greg Abbott of Texas feel emboldened to use immigrants as pawns, putting them on planes and buses and dumping them in blue cities for sport. They enact draconian laws targeting those who seek abortions, and transgender people. They smash civil rights and voting rights so that all of us have to work harder to preserve equality and democracy.
It remains to be seen whether Murdoch and Trump’s breakup will stick. The media magnate has turned on Trump before, only to reverse himself when it appeared to threaten his bottom line.
The Trump he helped make will be almost impossible to reject, not just for Murdoch, but for pretty much the entire party.
They made their bed. Now we all have to lie in it.
Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham can be reached at yvonne.abraham@globe.com.