Trouble Brewing In Mar-A-Lago
NOV 19,
2022
ROLLAND KIDDER
Though he has
announced he is running again, it looks like (though hold your breath) we may
be seeing the “beginning of the end” of the Donald Trump
phenomenon in American politics.
Republicans
were expected to do much better than they did on election night this year. Most
of the MAGA candidates endorsed by Trump lost. Now, some of the GOP’s biggest
supporters in the media are questioning the viability of another Donald Trump
run for President–most conspicuous being the media empire of Ruppert Murdoch.
In the days right after the election, the New York Post, the Wall Street
Journal and Fox News–all owned and run by Murdoch’s company–essentially came
out and told the former President not to run.
Perhaps the
most devastating headlines were in the Post. One read: “DeFUTURE:
Young GOP star DeSantis romps to victory in Florida.” The
other, which it seems to me was specifically targeted at Trump himself
read: “TRUMPTY DUMPTY: Don (who couldn’t build a wall) had a great
fall–can all the GOP’s men put the party back together again?”
Of course,
Trump went “off the wall” when he read the headlines
and attacked Murdoch and his news outlets. In a rambling statement, Donald
Trump wrote: “NewsCorp., which is Fox, the Wall Street Journal and the no
longer great New York Post…is all in for Governor Ron DeSanctimonious, an
average REPUBLICAN Governor with great Public Relations.”
Trump and
Murdoch have generally had a close relationship over the years. Yet, even back
in the 1990’s the Post would sometimes publish headlines not always positive
for Mr. Trump. But, back in those days, Trump wasn’t President or running for
the job, and he welcomed any kind of headline as long as his name was
associated with it. I remember one, in particular, during the time he was
having an affair with Marla Maples and was trying to get a divorce from his
wife at the time, Ivana Trump. The headline read: “Ivana Better
Deal!” And, she ended up getting a better deal and the divorce
went through.
That headline,
from Murdoch’s Post, cost Mr. Trump a lot of money. But, more to the point, it
seems that his wife had read his book “The Art of the Deal” and had
taken it to heart.
This time,
though, things are more problematic. Trump wants to be President again, but it
will very difficult to get there with men like Ruppert Murdoch deserting the
ship. For some reason, I don’t think Trump will be able to dispatch Ron “DeSanctimonious” as easily
as he did “Lyin'” Ted Cruz or “Little Marco” Rubio.
DeSantis is the real McCoy and just won a decisive election in Florida.
For those of us
who are ready to put “election deniers” and attempts at voiding
fair elections in the rear-view mirror of the nation’s history, Trump’s troubles
are good news. It is time for Republicans to leave him at Mar-a-Lago and move
on. Let’s hope that more sane and normal politics can return to the GOP. The
country needs it.
Rolland Kidder
is a Stow resident and a former New York state Assemblyman.
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