Sharp attacks on Trump from Rupert Murdoch's news outlets

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has taken some hits in the aftermath of the midterm elections, but the unkindest cuts may have come from a source that was once among his biggest backers — the media empire of magnate Rupert Murdoch.

The New York Post's front cover on Thursday put Trump's face over the drawing of a boy from a well-known nursery rhyme. The headline: “Trumpty Dumpty.”

“Don (who couldn't build a wall) had a great fall — can all of the GOP's men put the party back together again?” the newspaper wrote.

The Wall Street Journal's opinion section ran a sharp editorial headlined, “Trump is the Republican Party's Biggest Loser.” While Fox News' biggest stars were relatively quiet, the former president heard enough discouraging words to attack the network on social media.

Trump was blamed for supporting losing or underperforming candidates like Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Don Bolduc in New Hampshire and Blake Masters in Arizona that cost Republicans a chance to make big gains in the House and Senate, as many had predicted.

The Journal's editorial mentioned each of those names and more, saying that Trump had “a perfect record of electoral defeat” since his victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

“Democrats succeeded again in making Trump a central campaign issue, and Mr. Trump helped them do it,” the Journal said.

The newspaper on Thursday also ran a guest column touting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as an alternative to Trump for the 2024 presidential election, and an excerpt from former Vice President Mike Pence's new book headlined, “My last days with Donald Trump.”

On the Post's website, veteran columnist John Podhoretz dubbed the former president “Toxic Trump.”

Podhoretz wrote...