It was published online Friday night, around the same time another Murdoch outlet, the Wall Street Journal, also published an editorial strongly criticizing the former president.
The newspaper called him “the president who stood still on January 6” and praised Vice President Mike Pence. “Character is revealed in crisis, and Mr. Pence passed his trial on January 6. Mr. Trump has completely failed his,” the Journal editorial said.
Both papers are noticeably more critical of Trump than Murdoch’s biggest megaphone of all, the Fox News Channel, although close watchers also noticed some signs that Fox might be unfriendly to Trump.
The right-wing network, for example, no longer shows his rallies. Potential 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, was a guest on Fox as Trump held a rally Friday night.
Both the Post and the Journal have conservative editorial boards believed to reflect Murdoch’s views. Murdoch said last fall that conservatives should play an active role in the American political debate, “but that won’t happen if President Trump remains focused on the past.”
If Murdoch was trying to give Trump advice, it didn’t work. Trump continued to spread lies about the 2020 election and undermine the House investigation into the January 6 riot.
After the House committee’s first hearing last month, the Journal’s editorial board said the evidence was a reminder that “Trump has betrayed his supporters.”
Although the editorial’s authors remained skeptical of the House committee and critical of the lack of cross-examination of witnesses, they wrote the following on Friday, after the second prime-time hearing: “Regardless of your views on the Jan. 6 special committee, the facts it lays out in hearings, are sobering. The most chilling yet came Thursday in a hearing about President Trump’s conduct as the riot raged and he sat watching television, posting inflammatory tweets and refusing to send aid.
Instead of making excuses or changing the subject, as some conservative commentators have done, the magazine’s editorial said Trump “failed” in 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 following Thursday’s prime-time hearing.
“It’s up to the Justice Department to decide if this is a crime,” Post said. “But as a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven himself unworthy to be the chief executive of this country again.
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