(CNN) — One of Donald Trump’s favorite newspapers — controlled by his media ally Rupert Murdoch — says Trump is “unworthy to be president of this country again.”
Those words, in New York Post this weekendmay be the tabloid’s strongest criticism of Trump to date.
It was posted online Friday night, around the same time that another Murdoch publication, the Wall Street Journal, also published an editorial scathingly criticizing the former president.
The Journal called it “The President Who Was Arrested on January 6” and praised Vice President Mike Pence. “Character reveals itself in a crisis, and Mr. Pence passed his trial on January 6. Mr. Trump completely failed his,” the Journal editorial stated.
Both newspapers have been notably more critical of Trump than Murdoch’s biggest megaphone of all, Fox News Channel, though nearby viewers have also picked up some signs that Fox might be angry with Trump.
The right-wing television no longer shows his rallies, for example. Potential 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, was a featured guest on Fox as Trump held a rally Friday night.
Both the Post and The Wall Street Journal have conservative editorial boards that are believed to reflect the views of Murdoch, who said last fall that conservatives should play an active role in American political debate, “but that won’t happen if President Trump Stay focused on the past.”
If Murdoch was trying to give Trump advice, it didn’t work. Trump has continued to spread lies about the 2020 election and undermine the House investigation into the January 6 insurrection.
After the House committee’s first prime-time hearing last month, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board said the evidence was a reminder that “Trump betrayed his supporters.”
While editorialists have remained skeptical of the House committee and criticized the lack of cross-examination of witnesses, they wrote the following Friday, after the second prime-time hearing: “Regardless of your points In view of the special commission on January 6, the facts that it is presenting in the hearings are sobering. sat around watching TV, posting incendiary tweets and refusing to send help.
Instead of making excuses or changing the subject, as some conservative commentators have done, The Wall Street Journal op-ed said Trump “failed” to do his duty as commander-in-chief.
The Post’s editorial page, which wrote last month that “we need a fresh start” with “a new crop of conservatives,” went further in its editorial after Thursday’s prime-time hearing.
“It’s up to the Justice Department to decide if this is a crime,” the Post said. “But as a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven unworthy to be the president of this country again.”