A new editorial from the Wall Street Journal has, as one reporter argued, given the game away about which Republican the Murdoch media empire wants to succeed President Donald Trump in 2028.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, a group traditionally seen as a leading voice in the American conservative movement, released a new piece titled, "Rubio Holds the Line on Hezbollah," hailing Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a new deal that attempts to rein in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, which threatened to undo the peace deal with Iran.
"The U.S. has brokered another Middle East deal and, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking the lead, this time the deal tries to box Iran out," the board detailed. "The U.S.-Israel-Lebanon Trilateral Framework signed Friday focuses on the only real way for Beirut to regain its sovereignty: disarming Hezbollah, Tehran’s Lebanese Shiite proxy.”
It continued later: "Some Iran analysts associated with Vice President JD Vance have criticized the framework as 'incompatible' with the memorandum of understanding with Iran. But Trump administration sources tell us this framework is the U.S. interpretation of the MOU’s language regarding Lebanon. On this the Vice President backs Mr. Rubio; nobody on the Trump team wants to force Israel to cede all of southern Lebanon to Iran’s proxy, as Iran demands... Hezbollah wants to turn Lebanon into Gaza. The Rubio accord gives Beirut and Israel the best chance in years to prevent that catastrophe.”
While the piece largely focused on praising the deal as an important step forward and did not comment on the political fortunes of those involved, some argued that such conclusions were still evident. Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA official and national security contributor for MS NOW, argued that this piece was another sign of Rupert Murdoch's conservative media empire taking a side in the 2028 GOP presidential battle.
"From the WSJ Ed Board to the NYPost, pretty clear where Murdoch owned pubs are now heavily tilting for ‘28," Polymeropoulos posted to X in response to the piece. "All in on Rubio, and their disgust is palpable with JD Vance and his (now an open secret in DC) alliance with [Iran war critic Trita] Parsi…"
Vance remains the nominal favorite to succeed Trump as the 2028 GOP presidential nominee, almost exclusively because of his position as vice president. As the months wear on, however, his unpopularity has some power brokers in the party looking elsewhere, with Rubio emerging as a new favorite.
Murdoch's preference for the secretary of state is far from a new development. In their recent book about the second Trump term, journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan revealed that Trump pressed the conservative media tycoon about his thoughts on Vance and Rubio right in front of the two men. Murdoch said that Vance "has the potential to be great," while he said flat out that "Rubio is brilliant."
