Donald Trump with Rupert Murdoch (L) and his wife Jerry Hall, Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeen, Scotland, June 25, 2016 (Reuters)

Trump’s biggest media allies appear to be deserting him and his disinformation campaign to cling to power.

Fox TV has swung hard since Friday night towards an acceptance of Joe Biden as President and a peaceful transition of power.

Trump’s friend, Sean Hannity, had said on Thursday night, “Americans have every right to be suspicious … to distrust the legitimacy of the results.”

But Fox anchor Bret Baier said on Friday of Trump’s claim of fraudulent mail-in ballots, “We just haven’t seen it. It hasn’t been presented to us.” Even the polemicist Laura Ingraham, a diehard Trump cheerleader who has pushed his falsehoods and diatribe, fell into line:

If and when it’s time to accept an unfavorable outcome in this election, and we hope it never comes, but if and when that does happen, President Trump needs to do it with the same grace and composure he demonstrated at that Town hall with [NBC News interviewer] Savannah Guthrie….

Now losing, especially when you believe the process wasn’t fair, it’s a gut punch. And I’m not conceding anything tonight by the way. But losing, if that’s what happens – it’s awful. But President Trump’s legacy will only become more significant if he focuses on moving the country forward.

The shift may have come from an edict by Fox owner Rupert Murdoch. His media empire have been relentless promoters of Trump and attackers of anyone who questioned the Administration; however, Fox is also protecting an image of being a news channel covering events.

On Wednesday, Trump was infuriated that Fox called Arizona, a key swing state for Biden. He and his son-in-law Jared Kushner called Murdoch to ask that the projection be recanted, and his aides have continued to press the outlet’s staff. Supporters, outside the Phoenix election center, chanted “Fox Sucks”.

But the pressure appears to have backfired.

Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal has published an editorial, “The Presidential Endgame”, which emphasizes that
Trump “needs evidence to prove voter fraud” in his legal quest to cling to office.

Echoing Ingraham, the editors write, “Mr. Trump’s legacy will be diminished greatly if his final act is a bitter refusal to accept a legitimate defeat.”

Even Murdoch’s New York Post tabloid, which tried just before the election to bring down Biden with disinformation about him and his son Hunter, has broken from Trump. Editors have told staff to be tougher in their coverage” of Trump. The newspaper accordingly said Trump was making an “unfounded claim that political foes were trying to steal the election” and headlined that Donald Trump Jr. was the “panic-stricken” author of a “clueless tweet”.