Rupert Murdoch reportedly promised Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis that Fox News would support and promote his campaign if he ran against President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP primary.
Fox boss Murdoch hosted DeSantis at his ranch in Bel Air, California in 2020.
According to a report by Knewz, Murdoch told DeSantis during the ranch visit that Fox News would throw its full weight behind his campaign if he agreed to take on Trump in 2024.
Since then, Murdoch and his media company have fired Fox’s top host Tucker Carlson.
Carlson has long been a favorite among Trump supporters.
Fox News has also since implemented a soft ban on President Trump.
The news channel has been suffering due to this new direction as viewers abandon and boycott the network.
Since firing Carlson, Fox News has lost nearly half of its audience.
The meeting between DeSantis and Murdoch was revealed by Knewz.
Interestingly, Knewz was owned by Murdoch’s NewsCorp until 2021.
Per the report:
…the conservative news mogul invited the Florida Governor to his Vineyard in Bel Air, California for dinner in 2020 and assured him that Fox would support his potential presidential run in 2024.
Earlier this year, signs of this sentiment became more apparent as Fox implemented a soft ban on Trump and began featuring DeSantis more frequently.
Additionally, during this time, the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit loomed over the news corporation.
The suit has prompted Fox to distance itself from election controversy and steer clear of Trump.
Murdoch even expressed regret, stating that he would have preferred his anchors to be more assertive in denouncing Trump’s election statements, the report states.
He was also quoted saying, “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight,” per the Independent.
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