As 91-year-old Fox News mogul Rupert Murdoch carves his final deals before heading to the big newsroom in the sky, the world’s focus is beginning to turn to his son and heir apparent, Lachlan.
And according to The Daily Beast’s Editor At Large Lachlan Cartwright, there’s more to Murdoch junior than meets the eye. He explains on this week’s episode of The New Abnormal: “It’s important to note that Lachlan’s politics are far more conservative than his father.”
When quizzed by podcast co-host Danielle Moodie how that could even be possible, Cartwright replies: “It is possible. He is staunchly more conservative than his dad and so I think if anything, you may see some of that appear in some of the titles throughout the empire.
“Lachlan’s close to Tucker Carlson. Tucker and Lachlan speak often and Lachlan is a big advocate for Tucker. He is very much on side with a lot of the politics that is presented on Fox News.”
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Cartwright predicts that after his father’s death, Lachlan will continue in his executive chairman role while adding Rebekah Brooks to “run the company day-to-day.”
“But there have always been questions about Lachlan’s ability as an executive compared to his father. He’s not as much of a political animal as Rupert, who is known to be darting in and out of 10 Downing Street or speaking to the PM of Australia. Bringing in someone like Rebekah who is trusted, who is incredibly loyal, who can help with some of these day-to-day decisions—that remains a top priority for Lachlan and for Rupert.”
Then, Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, tells podcast co-host Andy Levy his worries about the future of the House GOP and its “anti-science aggression” while “trying to create a witch hunt—not only against science, but against the scientists.”
“Rather than get ready for the next big, fourth, major coronavirus pandemic-slash-epidemic, we’re going to focus on the phony baloney stuff and keep our eyes off the prize,” Dr. Hotez warned. “And that’s going to make our country more vulnerable when we should be shoring up our virologic research, not creating the witch hunt against virologists.”
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