Thursday 10 November 2022 06:05 AM NY Post turns on 'Toxic Trump' after DeSantis gets plaudits from paper and Fox ... trends now
Both key facets of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. empire - Fox News on TV and the New York Post in print - appear to have pivoted away from former President Donald Trump and to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the GOP's next great hope.
The Post promoted their upcoming Thursday front page as 'TRUMPTY DUMPTY' with a fairly scathing criticism of the 45th president.
Their caption reads: 'Don (who couldn't build a great wall) had a great fall - can all the GOP's men put the party back together again?'
The headlines come in as the fallout continues from what many are seeing as the Republican Party's failure to take turn historic unpopularity for President Joe Biden and the Democrats into a 'Red Wave.'
As of Friday morning, the Senate remains in the balance, with the possibility of yet another runoff in Georgia deciding which party will control the upper chamber, assuming the heavily Trump-backed Blake Masters and Adam Laxalt can pull off upsets in Arizona and Nevada.
The Post promoted their upcoming Thursday front page as 'TRUMPTY DUMPTY' with a fairly scathing criticism of the 45th president
This comes after the Post piled on the plaudits for Governor DeSantis' dominant, 20-point victory on Tuesday in Wednesday's cover, declaring him 'DeFUTURE' of the GOP
TRUMP-BACKED... AND ELECTED: JD Vance, the bestselling author of 'Hillbilly Elegy,' defeated 10-term congressman Tim Ryan in Ohio. Ted Budd won in North Carolina (right)
Even with Republicans still favored to take the House of Representatives, the party still cannot claim a majority and will likely have a slim margin regardless.
This comes after the Post piled on the plaudits for Governor DeSantis' dominant, 20-point victory on Tuesday in Wednesday's cover, declaring him 'DeFUTURE' of the GOP.
The Post called the Florida executive the GOP's 'young star' who romped to victory in the Sunshine State.
Columnist John Podhoretz further slapped down the ex-president in an op-ed declaring that Turmp performed 'sabotage' on the party.
Podhoretz wrote: 'Hey, Lyin’ Ted and Sleepy Joe: Meet Toxic Trump. You know, if the former president had any self-knowledge or even the slightest ability to be self-deprecating, he might consider giving himself this alliterative nickname.'
The long-time conservative writer counted up various Trump endorsements - including Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, Blake Masters in Arizona and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire - who either already have lost or appear on their way to losing.
Podhoretz concluded: 'The surest way to lose in these midterms was to be a politician endorsed by Trump.'
Fox News was largely quiet about the former president Tuesday night into Wednesday, but they made sure to heap praise on DeSantis.
Tucker Carlson, one of Trump's biggest backers on cable news, said that DeSantis 'absolutely killed it.'
He added that voters in Florida were not just rejecting Democrat opponent Charlie Crist but 'affirming' the policies of DeSantis.
Carlson added: 'What happened in Florida was a big deal. It was out of the ordinary, unexpected, and profound.'
Host Laura Ingraham called DeSantis' - and Senator Marco Rubio's - performances a 'tour de force' and declared Florida a model for the rest of the country.
Fox's Sean Hannity also praised what happened in Florida during an interview with Rubio, after rumors Trump was angry with the longest-tenured Fox host while watching the results Tuesday night, according to ABC News.
Republican strategists were licking their wounds on Wednesday as the post-mortem following the midterms began - with senior figures in the party branding Donald Trump a 'disaster' and accusing him of 'sabotaging' their expected cruise to victory.
Many Democrats went into election night dreading how bad their losses could be and pondering how to explain them.
By Wednesday, they had quickly shifted into day-after hoping that they could actually maintain a voting majority in the Senate, celebrating victories in key governors' races, and aware that control of the House was still not declared.
Trump has promised to make a 'major announcement' on November 15, but many are trying to convince him to reconsider the expected launch of his 2024 campaign, given how well his rival Ron DeSantis, re-elected as governor of Florida, performed.
'Between being Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis tonight, you want to be Ron DeSantis,' said Mick Mulvaney, Trump's former chief of staff.
'DeSantis wins tonight and Trump is not doing very well.'
Donald Trump on Wednesday was forced to deny reports he erupted in anger at the midterms results, which saw many of his handpicked candidates fail. He insisted he was delighted with the showing
Republicans were left grumbling about 'candidate quality,' with many pointing the finger at the 76-year-old former president.
'Never forget. Trump picked
