Murdoch’s Support for Johnson Amid Greene’s Ouster
Rupert Murdoch might not be showing off, but he’s just shown how much influence he still has in the Republican Party, even if he’s not making a big deal out of it.
The big boss of conservative media, who owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post, seemed to favor Mike Johnson when Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized the House Speaker for supporting aid to Ukraine. His media outlets supported Johnson and criticized Greene harshly, with the New York Post even calling her “MOSCOW MARJORIE” on its cover.
Murdoch was kind of different in the world of right-wing media. Even though his media outlets backed Johnson, other super conservative ones kept attacking him. People like Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, and more said Johnson wasn’t really a strong Republican. They said he turned his back on the conservative movement and was just doing what the Democrats wanted.
Missiles aimed at Johnson missed, as the House voted against removing him from his job. The plan failed because Johnson kept support from both Democrats and Republicans, including Donald Trump.
Fox News didn’t give much attention to the vote, just briefly mentioning it as members voted. But CNN and MSNBC gave a lot more coverage, showing the voting process in more detail.
This episode showed us something important about who holds the most power in the GOP. It highlighted how much influence Murdoch still has over the party, even though his power has decreased lately. His media empire is still a major force in the right-wing media world. Because Murdoch’s media didn’t join in criticizing Johnson, Greene’s attempts to challenge Johnson’s leadership didn’t get enough support to be successful.
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If Murdoch had told Fox News to criticize Johnson even more, things could have been very different. Instead of just some online videos and podcasts criticizing Johnson, the criticism could have spread to lots of mainstream Republican leaders. This could have made Johnson’s position as leader much weaker. And if Fox News had talked more about the attacks, it would have encouraged other Republicans to join in too.
This could have really changed how Trump acted. Instead of backing Johnson, he might have gone against the House speaker because of Fox News. Then, he might have encouraged other Republicans to do the same.
Instead of what everyone expected, Murdoch quietly assisted Johnson and helped him out of a tough spot. The 93-year-old billionaire was a big supporter of Johnson, even though people didn’t really talk about it much.
In other conservative news outlets, Johnson was seen as someone who betrayed his own party. Without Murdoch Media protecting Johnson from harsh criticism within the Republican Party, he would have likely been in real trouble.
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