Publishing magnate Rupert Murdoch is ditching Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who isn’t even running.
At least as of this moment.
Although now that the New York Post, Wall Street Journal and Fox News might be in his corner, he may be giving it a second thought. Already there have been rumblings that Youngkin has been thinking about jumping in.
Starting with DeSantis’ blockbuster re-election victory in 2022, insiders close to Murdoch said he was all in for the Florida Governor. But of course, he came off increasingly awkward during his “exploratory”, pre-announcement phase, including a disastrous international trip where he failed to impress key leaders abroad.
A senior Fox News source told Rolling Stone that, “Rupert’s understandable worry is that we may end up being stuck with Trump anyway. And DeSantis is underperforming. Anybody can see that, the Murdochs are seeing it, too.”
The straw that officially broke the camel’s back, according to the source, was the anti-LGBT video released by a pro-DeSantis PAC that DeSantis himself actually shared. There, Trump was featured saying, “I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens,” in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting. “To wrap up ‘Pride Month,’ let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it,” the PAC producing the video tweeted. Making matters worse, this video release probably helps Murdoch’s enemy win the general election. Independent voters might see Trump as more moderate and reasonable.
To wrap up “Pride Month,” let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it…
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 30, 2023
The source also said Murdoch felt DeSantis was “too online.” That’s a decent point. DeSantis announced his campaign through a choppy rollout via Twitter Spaces, and has often appeared awkward on the campaign trail. The online trolling and winning stuff is meaningless when it comes to tangible primary votes, and Murdoch sees that.
And it appears that Murdoch has sent his anchors to sic DeSantis. Two viral moments involving DeSantis made an impact this week, both on Fox News. On Monday, anchor Will Cain asked a question to DeSantis that seemed to have a hint of hostility in it. “There are those who say there’s something about you that’s not connecting. Trump says its about loyalty, Francis Suarez says is about relationships, and I’m curious, in the analysis of Ron DeSantis, why not yet, is he connecting?” DeSantis replied noting he had record fundraising numbers for this month.
Then three days later, Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo echoed Cain’s sentiments. “What’s going on with your campaign? There was a lot of optimism about you running for president earlier this year.” It wouldn’t be conspiratorial to guess that Murdoch gave these two anchors directives to take DeSantis to task. And the Wall Street Journal released an editorial calling DeSantis’s new Florida immigration law saying it will only “exacerbate the state’s labor shortage.”
While DeSantis is dead in Murdoch’s mind, he doesn’t seem too happy with the eleven other candidates in the race. He seems to want Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to run. In March, Youngkin said he wouldn’t. Then he had some aids say that he was reconsidering.
Murdoch seems to be following the lead of billionaire broker Thomas Peterffy. Peterffy gave over $600,000 to DeSantis’s two gubernatorial campaigns. But DeSantis’s six-week abortion ban last month caused the key backer to back down. “I have put myself on hold. Because of his stance on abortion and book banning, myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry. He seems to have lost some momentum.”
Peterffy suggested Youngkin. In fact, he put his money where his mouth is, donating a million bucks to Youngkin’s Political Action Committee. “I would like to vote for a person who is most likely to be able to win the general election. And accordingly, we have to pick somebody in primaries that we believe is most likely to win the general. And that is going to be a person that I believe is more likely to be a centrist candidate. I think that Youngkin would be an ideal candidate, although it is not very likely that he’s going to run. Not at this point, certainly,” Peterffy told Fox News with a sigh. But that sigh probably best represents a manufactured donor and media fueled drumbeat. Youngkin wants to make it seem like he was drafted to run. Everyone likes the reluctant candidate. They come off as less narcissistic that way.
So does Youngkin have a lane? He’s certainly reminiscent of the Republican of yesteryear. Not actually that moderate, he’s just less divisive and reactionary, presenting a more palatable GOP. He’s genial, sure, and comes off as a nice enough guy, but he doesn’t have a lot of charisma or energy. He’s been compared frequently to Mitt Romney.
But still, expect the Virginia Governor to jump in the race. His billionaire buddy, and now Rupert Murdoch, are giving him the go-ahead. With DeSantis polling in the mid 20s and Trump hovering above 60 percent consistently, Youngkin could be seen as having the right chops for the anti-Trump forces to coalesce around. Still, that probably won’t be enough.
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