Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
In Britain, where he laid the foundations of his global media empire and his own omnipotence, Rupert Murdoch never met a political leader of either of the main parties he couldn’t manipulate to his own ends. He grew used to that pernicious sense of power.
He thought the same of Donald Trump. Like many others, Murdoch did not see a Trump presidency coming in 2016, but when it arrived he still believed—for the first time—there would be a man in the Oval Office whose ear he would capture and who could serve to make him America’s dominant media mogul.
Now that he’s relinquishing control of Fox Corp and News Corp to his son, Lachlan, the valedictory verdict on Murdoch’s skills and reputation must be that, like so many others who got too close to Trump, Trump destroyed him.