by Alisha Rodriguez, REPUBLIC BRIEF
Former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who is married to his second son, Eric Trump, has been a fighting advocate for her father-in-law throughout his first campaign and subsequent presidency. Even after he didn’t make it to the White House for a second term, Lara continued to speak publicly with an eloquent fierceness on his and her family’s behalf, always steadfast in the fight for MAGA and ultimately the American people.
Now, that role has changed. In a surprising twist in the fight Trump faces for another run at the White House, Lara Trump will no longer be publicly speaking on his behalf and defending his cause, after one major outlet just abruptly cut ties with the well spoken woman.
According to The Washington Times, “Lara Trump is no longer serving as a Fox News contributor in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s announcement that he’s entering the 2024 race for the White House.”
The Los Angeles Times first reported over the weekend that “Mrs. Trump is no longer employed with the network. She had originally joined Fox in spring 2021 and had been a frequent contributor since.”
“We appreciate Lara’s valuable contributions across Fox News Media programming,” Fox News said in a statement.
Mrs. Trump’s exit is a protocol decision for the network, which doesn’t allow contributors to be paid when they are affiliated with a candidate for public office, according to Variety. She has in the past received payment for her advisory roles to the former president.
The Washington Times added, “Mrs. Trump’s last paid appearance on Fox was Nov. 15, the same week Mr. Trump announced his candidacy. However, she can still appear on Fox in an unpaid capacity as a regular guest.”
Evidently, this is not the first time Fox News has taken such an action. According to Business Insider, former White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders had her paid contributor deal terminated after she announced her run for governor of Arkansas. Sanders ultimately ran a successful campaign for that top government position, winning that election in 2022.
Business Insider also noted in their report that, “Fox is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. According to The Guardian, Murdoch has warned Trump that his media empire will not back his White House bid. His publications, including the Wall Street Journal, described Trump as a “loser” after the midterm results were disappointing for Republicans.”
“The Guardian also reported that Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son, has told Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that the media group would back him if he ran against Trump in 2024.”
While Fox News has stated this is a standard practice of the company’s, liberal outlets are questioning the allegedly real or potentially underlying motive for the decision, especially in light of Rupert Murdoch’s personal take on Trump.
“She exits the role as many media outlets backed by Rupert Murdoch appear to have soured on Donald Trump. He has been criticized in recent months by the editorial pages of both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post. Both are published by News Corp., a corporate sibling to Fox Corp. Both companies are controlled by the Murdoch family,” Veriety reported.
“Even some Fox News outlets, which have not targeted Trump in recent months, have been harsh toward the former president. Last month, Lara Trump appeared on Fox Business Network after her father-in-law announced his candidacy for the 2024 election. Anchor Stuart Varney told her that ‘I’m sure you’re very supportive of your father-in-law, but to those of us on the outside looking at it, it didn’t seem as though he’s got the old magic, you know what I mean?’ Lara Trump pushed back: ‘Oh, well, I highly disagree with that.’”
The Variety report added that Lara’s “contributor role had long been something to monitor. When she joined Fox News in an official capacity in 2021, she was considering running for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina.”
The former president and Lara’s famous father-in-law has lamented this move by Fox News in the immediate aftermath of the network cutting ties with her over his presidential 2024 run.
The Independent reported:
Donald Trump lamented losing Fox News as an ally on his Truth Social social media platform after his daughter-in-law was dropped by the network.
“Lara Trump was one of the smartest, quickest, nicest, and most professional people on Television. Her delivery, both in terms of presentation and content, was unbelievable—a true natural,” wrote Mr Trump on Truth Social.
“Fox News is a much different place now than it was just a short time ago, but the audience loved Lara, her insight and vision—and so does the Trump Family!” he added.
Fox News portrayed the parting with Ms Trump as amiable and said that since Mr Trump announced he will run for president for a third time on 15 November, Ms Trump could not continue to be a part of the network.
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