“F–k Him”: Rupert Murdoch Reportedly Made the Call to Bury Trump’s Election Night Dreams in a Shallow Grave

In the early-morning hours of November 4, the day after the 2020 election, Donald Trump held a news conference in the East Room of the White House in which he falsely claimed that the fact that he had been ahead in the early tallying of votes, and then later behind, meant that the election had been stolen from him. “This is a fraud on the American public,” he declared. “This is an embarrassment to this country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.” Obviously that wasn’t true at all—Trump hadn’t won anything because not all of the votes had been counted yet. Still, in some states it had become clear that he was very likely going to lose, hence Fox News’s decision to declare Arizona for Joe Biden. At the time the call from the right-wing outlet, made before any other major network, shocked the country—and according to a new book, it was Rupert Murdoch who gave it the greenlight, with some less-than-charitable things to say about Trump!

Insider reports that Michael Wolff’s forthcoming book, Landslide, includes a scene in which Lachlan Murdoch, the nonagenarian billionaire’s son, got a call from Fox’s election desk saying it was ready to announce Biden had won Arizona, which he then took to the top:

The book [notes] that the Murdochs—who spearhead a vast right-wing media empire—had “every reason” to delay calling Arizona at the time, given Fox’s steadfast allegiance to Trump and the fact that no other network had made the call yet. “Lachlan got his father on the phone to ask if he wanted to make the early call. His father, with signature grunt, assented, adding, ‘F— him,’” Wolff wrote. The book [says] that Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer then called Trump’s lead social media strategist, Jason Miller, to let him know the network was going to call Arizona for Biden. “Miller involuntarily rose from his seat. ‘What the f—?’ he said out loud, looking around and seeing the still-merry and untroubled faces in the Map Room”…Wolff wrote. Hemmer reportedly replied: “That’s what they’re doing. That’s what they’re going with.”

“Who?” Miller asked.

“The election desk,” Hemmer said, adding that the network’s decision was going to be aired imminently. The decision to call Arizona for Biden was a pivotal moment on election night, indicating the Democrat was poised to win the traditionally Republican-leaning state and complicating Trump’s ability to declare an early victory in the overall race.

In a statement, a Fox News Media spokesperson told the Hive: “This account is completely false. Arnon Mishkin who leads the FOX News Decision Desk made the Arizona call on election night and FOX News Media President Jay Wallace was then called in the control room. Any other version of the story is wildly inaccurate.” Regarding Bill Hemmer’s call to Miller, a Fox News spokesperson insisted “This never happened and is completely untrue.”

Trump was unsurprisingly livid about the Arizona decision and, as my colleague Gabriel Sherman reported at the time, personally called Murdoch “to scream about the call and demand a retraction. Murdoch refused, and the call stood.” (Jared Kushner also reportedly tried to convince the Fox News founder to withdraw the call, a “desperate” plea that fell on deaf ears.)

Biden ultimately won Arizona by roughly 10,000 votes. But if anyone thought Fox’s (and Murdoch’s) decision to momentarily refrain from serving as a right-wing propaganda machine suggested the network had changed its ways, they were deeply mistaken. Chris Stirewalt, the politics editor at the time, was fired in January. And the network’s hosts have, of course, perpetuated the lie that Trump won the election, while pushing bullshit conspiracy theories about the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Texas remains committed to turning state into uninhabitable hellhole

Insane open carry laws? A ban on abortions after six weeks? Anti-trans legislation? The potential disenfranchisement of millions of people? “Gelatinous tubeworm” Ted Cruz? The Lone Star State has got it all. Per The Washington Post:

Republican lawmakers in Texas on Thursday launched their second effort this year to pass new voting restrictions after Democrats blocked them in May with a dramatic walkout at the state Capitol. The legislature convened Thursday for a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to enact a laundry list of conservative priorities, including a ban of transgender athletes on youth sports teams and beefed-up border security. But Abbott has made clear that “election integrity” is a top priority, and Republicans filed bills in the House and Senate that include many of the same voting provisions they sought to enact earlier in the year.

The new election proposals include a number of restrictions championed by former president Donald Trump. The measures would ban several election programs implemented last year to help people vote during the coronavirus pandemic, including drive-through voting and 24-hour and late-night voting. Voting rights advocates noted that voters of color used these programs disproportionately, meaning they could disproportionately feel the impact of the restrictions.

In May, after Democratic lawmakers staged a walkout to stop a piece of legislation viewed as one of the worst voter-suppression bills in the country from becoming a law, Abbott threatened to cut off funding for the Texas Legislature, tweeting, “I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature. Article 10 funds the legislative branch. No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities. Stay tuned.” He also vowed to pass the scuttled bill—which would restrict polling hours, make it harder to vote by mail, give more power to partisan poll watchers, and increase punishments for mistakes made by election officials—in a special session. The so-called election-security proposals are “based on a lie that there was rampant fraud in our elections, and on the ‘big lie’ that Donald Trump actually won the last election,” state Rep. Chris Turner, who urged Texas Democrats to walk out on May 30, told the Post. “That’s what this is all about—so they can curry favor with Donald Trump and his supporters. That’s exactly what’s going on here.”

Jen Psaki has no time for GOP anti-vax bullshit

Elsewhere!

CDC says students vaccinated against the coronavirus can go maskless in fall (Washington Post)

Crypto Scammers Rip Off Billions as Pump-and-Dump Schemes Go Digital (Bloomberg)

Assassination of Haitian president becomes complex international web (Washington Post)

Real Estate Agents Target Record $100 Billion as Home Sales Boom (Bloomberg)

Senate may work into August to pass infrastructure plan, set the stage for huge spending bill (CNBC)

Biden signs executive order aimed at promoting competition in U.S. economy (CNN)

This May Be the World’s Most Accomplished Eighth-Grader (The Cut)

Prison Guard Accused of Smuggling Drugs in Rice Krispies Treats (AP)

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