Donald Trump has long had a complex, up-and-down relationship with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. In his New York real estate days, he often leaked stories to the Murdoch-owned New York Post and other city tabloids.
Murdoch’s empire, which also includes Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, was somewhat resistant to Trump during the early part of his 2016 run, culminating in his debate confrontation with Megyn Kelly and his subsequent decision to skip a Fox-hosted debate. But by the time he was in office the first time, the Murdoch team was much more on board. After Trump’s 2020 loss, relations turned frosty again, with the Murdoch empire holding him at arm’s length during the Republican primaries in 2024- only to see relations improve once again once Trump won the primaries and, ultimately, the presidency.
One consistent thing is that Trump cares a lot about what Fox and other Murdoch outlets say about him.
Over the weekend, Trump’s tariff gambit and the subsequent stock market meltdown resulted in extensive negative media coverage, which extended to Murdoch-owned outlets. The Wall Street Journal editorial page, in particular, has long supported free trade, and Trump’s extreme tariffs go against that view.
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Despite the New York Post slamming what Trump had done, the president was spotted reading the tabloid in the presidential limo during his visit to Florida. The article featured a picture of China’s President Xi wagging a finger, presumably at Trump.
POTUS reading the New York Post in the back of the Beast as he heads into his Jupiter Golf Club (photo by the AP’s great @alexbrandon) pic.twitter.com/7wTslOD0r7
— Emily Goodin (@Emilylgoodin) April 5, 2025
While Trump has been holding the Associated Press at arms’ length, including banning them from the White House press room, it was an AP photographer, Alex Brandon, who took that photo. Trump was in Florida on a weekend-long tour of his golf courses, which included an opening dinner for a LIV Golf event at Trump Doral.
The president dug into a New York Post article jabbing him for golfing while China retaliated against his tariffs and stocks tumbled. https://t.co/b2a0WyBAeb
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 5, 2025
“We’ve long thought Mr. Trump’s ‘reciprocal’ line is mainly political spin intended to mollify Republicans and businesses that his tariffs may not be permanent,” the Journal wrote in an editorial Monday. “Wall Street bought this line to its painful regret until last week. The truth is that Mr. Trump loves tariffs for their own sake and he really seems to believe the U.S. will prosper by making or growing everything it consumes only in the 50 states.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
