All eyes on Fox News and especially the Murdochs who own the network. Will Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and other primetime hosts encourage Trump's stolen-election/stop-counting crusade, or will the Murdochs make them stand down? https://theintercept.com/2020/10/24/fox-news-murdoch-family-media/

One of the grotesqueries of the U.S. political system is that the billionaire owners (Murdochs) of a rightwing cable network (Fox) can determine whether the president will be able to stir up enough chaos to hold onto power. Trump needs Fox but does Fox need Trump any longer?

The Murdochs, led by patriarch Rupert and eldest son Lachlan, are arguably one of the most destructive forces in U.S. politics. Their support for Trump has been ideological but also a business proposition. Turning away from Trump now would be a business and reputational choice.

It would be a business choice because if Biden becomes president, they would risk his ire and the legal or regulatory exposure it might involve in the event they went all in on the 2020 version of birtherism -- which seems, from the numbers right now, to likely be a losing cause.

Remember that in 1997 Rupert Murdoch threw his support in the UK behind Labour leader Tony Blair rather than the Conservative prime minister, John Major. It's a notable precedent of the Murdochs pivoting away from the right when it serves their interests. https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/rupert-murdoch-documentary-rise-of-dynasty-bbc-tony-blair/

It's also a reputational choice for the family. While Rupert is 89, his six children are co-owners with him of Fox News and will likely have to live far longer than him with the consequences/stain of whatever unfolds now. My guess is they are weighing in now.

If the Murdoch family makes Hannity/Carlson/Ingraham ease away from Trump, let's please not treat them as good guys or saviors or whatever. The Murdochs are complicit in decades of fomenting racism, hatred, sexism & climate denialism -- and making billions from it.

I watched Hannity and Carlson last night and agree with @GoAngelo that their support for Trump's fraud claims was largely performative. Carlson was half-hearted while Hannity provided the red meat you'd expect (and I'd be surprised if he keeps at it). https://twitter.com/GoAngelo/status/1324194610504151040

Predictably the Trump campaign and his supporters are going after Fox News. Its pivot from Trump is real and important because the network could stir up a lot of chaos and violence if it hyped the vote-counting conspiracies. But let's not forget a crucial fact ...

Fox News is complicit in bringing Trump to power and for years before that fomenting racism and hatred. Its legacy is toxic and will take ages to resolve. We should not, as Fox pivots from Trump, give a pass to its hosts and particularly to its owners, the Murdoch family.

Articles on Fox's pivot should emphasize the decades of toxic work by the network and its owners. Journalists made the mistake after the Iraq invasion of giving a pass to its intellectual authors. Let's not allow to be forgotten what Fox and the Murdochs have done in America.

The Murdoch pivot from Trump is official, I think. The New York Post is one of Rupert Murdoch's oldest and favorite media holdings in the U.S. Rupert got his start as a newspaper owner, this is where his heart and voice is. https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1324506154148515842

The drift that the Murdoch-owned Fox News exhibited in recent days will likely become clearer now (a few bleats from Hannity and Dobbs notwithstanding). Fittingly, the end-of-regime intervention for Trump will come from Fox News rather than the ever-cowardly leaders of the GOP.

I can't repeat this message often enough. I hope I'm not the only one doing so. https://twitter.com/maassp/status/1324414327487631361