Fox News signals break with Trump after midterm rout: 'It was really hard, and there was no explanation'

US President Donald Trump [Getty Images]

After Republicans suffered a crushing defeat in the US midterm elections, analysts say media mogul Rupert Murdoch — long a voice for conservatives — appears to be in effect cutting ties with Donald Trump.

According to the Financial Times, Fox News, owned by the Murdoch family's News Corporation, pointed to Trump as the cause of the Republican Party's midterm losses, Yonhap reported Wednesday (local time).

Sean Hannity, one of Trump's most prominent on-air supporters, was asked whether the election results would have been different had Trump not gone to war with Iran. "One hundred percent. Without a doubt," Hannity said.

Laura Ingraham, another Fox News host widely regarded as a leading Trump ally, also weighed in on the Iran war, saying it "was really hard, and it was never properly explained."

The wave of criticism from within Fox News reflects a broader distancing from Trump across the network.

The day after the election, Murdoch-owned newspapers all blamed Trump for the Republican defeat.

The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial published immediately after the vote, named Trump as the architect of the Republican loss. The paper said Trump had been erratic and self-centered since returning to the White House, and had squandered an opportunity to reform and advance conservative politics in America.

The New York Post ran a front-page image of a blue tsunami crashing over Trump, under the headline: "Trump's historic reckoning … Democrats sweep midterms."

A former senior News Corporation executive said the coordinated criticism from Murdoch's outlets reflected a simple reality. "Murdoch doesn't want to be associated with a loser," the executive said.

"Murdoch is no longer interested in Trump," the former executive added. "He's only interested in the audience."

However, analysts say a clean break between Fox News and Trump will not come easily. The network's core viewership remains heavily pro-Trump.

Trump warns Fox News: 'Ratings will collapse'

Trump has also gone on the offensive against Fox News.

On Tuesday (local time), Trump took to his Truth Social account to complain about the network's election coverage, singling out host Jessica Tarlov. "Watching election returns on Fox News and can't stand the voice of Jessica Tarlov. Dumb as a rock and her voice is grating," he wrote, according to Yonhap.

Tarlov is a liberal-leaning Fox News host known for presenting Democratic arguments and strategy on air.

Trump followed up with a string of additional posts, writing that "Fox News polls are always the worst" and that Fox News ratings had dropped 27 percent because the network spent "too much time covering stupid Democrats obsessed with Trump."

"It's only natural that Fox News ratings are collapsing, and they will fall even further," Trump said. "It's not because of me — it's because they're against me. This happened before and Fox almost went under, and now the same thing is happening again."

yul@heraldcorp.com