“Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber Destroy the Fox News’ Empire”
By Richard Allen – June 5, 2023
Hopefully, most of my readers are familiar with the story of Rehoboam, King Solomon’s foolish son, who inherited Solomon’s vast Empire and in short order (and with very little effort) destroyed it. History is replete with many examples of the sons of great leaders squandering their fathers’ fortunes or destroying their empires or businesses shortly after inheriting a windfall. In what should have been “easy street,” many a son or daughter, lacking the virtues that led their fathers to success, lost all their fortune shortly after dad died. The stories differ, some children squander their inherited fortunes by extravagant living. Other children lacking the competence or virtues of their fathers, ended up risking and then losing their fathers’ estate. Some names come to mind, Texan Clint Murchison Jr., who inherited $200 Million from his Oil Tycoon father. Clint had been raised to enjoy the finer things in life, so he did, finally filing for bankruptcy near the end of his life. Other children of Successful Leaders also failed in life, often attempting a large and costly venture. Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, lost $350 million in his bid to start a new division of Ford Motor products. Then there are the heirs of ruthless businessman Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose name is synonymous with wealth. They quickly squandered his vast fortune.
But the reason I want to look at Rehoboam’s folly is: It closely parallels the folly of Rupert Murdoch’s two sons, Lachlan and James. Rehoboam’s story tells of a young King receiving both wise and foolish counsel, yet lacking the discernment to listen to the right voices, he made very unwise decisions. King Rehoboam rejected the wise counsel of his father’s advisors, men whom the Bible refers to as “the old men.” And instead, listened to the foolish counsel of “the young men” of wealth and privilege with whom he’d grown up in his father’s court. Here’s one writer’s synopsis of the Biblical record from 1 Kings chapters 12-14:
“Rehoboam was a foolish king. Solomon, his father, had treated the people harshly, putting on them a heavy yoke of heavy labor. All Rehoboam had to do was treat the people with a little kindness and they would follow him. That was the advice the new king got from the elders. But Rehoboam, young and indecisive (I Kings 13:7), listened to his rabble-rousing group of young friends. Instead of lightening the load, Rehoboam made things worse for the people. So the people made things worse for Rehoboam. They packed their bags and ditched their foolish king.” [https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/kings-of-judah-rehoboams-folly/]
There is more behind this story than a brief paragraph can tell. Because King Solomon allowed his “many foreign wives” (700 of them) to turn his heart away from the Lord and worship other gods, God revealed that most of Solomon’s kingdom would be ripped away from his son, Rehoboam. For this week’s Blog, we’ll look at the very means that God used to take away Rehoboam’s empire: Ignorance brought on by stupid friends and forgetfulness. It’s an age old story, but Rehoboam forgot whatever wisdom he may have learned from his father, Solomon. To be honest, Rehoboam was never more than a spectator to his father’s rule and reign. Rehoboam no doubt witnessed some of the massive architectural projects undertaken by Solomon, including building an ornate palace for himself, and the first physical Jewish Temple in Jerusalem that was not just a tent. Even Solomon’s wisdom in subduing the surrounding kingdoms was seen second hand by Rehoboam, a young man growing up as “the son of the king.” He had no reference point regarding the “hard work” or the “plight” of the Israelite people and their legitimate concerns for the taxes and stern rule of Solomon. But what strikes a chord is that Rehoboam had a group of advisors who had grown up with him, that is, children of wealth and privilege in Israel. Neither did they have any idea what it took to build Solomon’s Kingdom, especially dependence upon God, which marked Solomon’s earlier days as a young king.
So let’s take a look at Lachlan and James Murdoch and the advisors they ignored, and those to whom they listened in their decision to “sideline” their bestselling product: Tucker Carlson. The Rehoboam story parallels a similar story of a young king not listening to the right advisors, and deliberately destroying his empire. Looking at Fox News, it’s clear that they’ve deliberately derailed their competitive advantage in the marketplace by dumping their best-selling product, all to appease people who never use their product. Those same people have actually advocated shutting their business down. This may seem like an almost ridiculous indictment, but I hope to show that it’s none-the-less true.
The only example that comes close to the Fox News debacle was on April 23, 1985, when the Coca Cola Bottling Company’s brain trust in Atlanta headquarters decided to get rid of their patented “Coca Cola” taste and replace it with “New Coke.” As one writer mused, they violated the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So, in a whim to become more hip like Pepsi Cola with the younger generation, Coke discontinued its 99-year distinctive recipe and replaced it with a new, sweeter, hipper formula, New Coke. The rest of the story should be well known. It was “disastrous business decision” for Coke, and they were finally forced three months later on July 11, 1985 to do a “mea culpa,” and bring the original Coca Cola formula back as Coke Classic.
As devastating as the Fox News decision was to sideline Tucker Carlson, Fox’s demise started with Rupert Murdoch stepping aside, and giving his older son Lachlan control of News Corp, Fox’s parent company in 2016. Lachlan and his brother James together control Fox News. One of their first moves was to “oust the old advisor,” Roger Ailes, the man who had turned Fox News into a $20 Billion Asset, earning $2 Billion in profits annually, alleging bogus charges of sexual harassment. The reason I say bogus is, that they did the same thing a year later in 2017 to the biggest star in the Fox News lineup at that time, Bill O’Reilly. As an ex-HR guy, let me carefully say: Sexual Harassment does exist. It was much more prevalent in years past. As a Christian, I don’t condone this behavior. But the way lawyers wrote sexual harassment laws, it’s nearly impossible to prove your innocence, or get your reputation back if you’ve been falsely accused. Costs are weighted against those wrongly accused, so companies tend to settle just to make problems go away, that is, they separate those involved. Sadly, people with political agendas take full advantage of these laws.
And just like the story of Solomon and his son Rehoboam, the problem really started with the father. As Solomon had turned aside to worship “other gods,” prompting the Lord’s decree to diminish his empire once his son began to reign, Rupert Murdoch, who “had listened” to his “old advisor Roger,” left News Corp to his useless sons and the advice of their circle of Liberal friends. It’s important to understand that to run against the current mindset in any age, men and women must have conviction and courage. Lachlan and James Murdoch have neither. And just like Rehoboam took the advice of the children of privilege he’d grown up with, Lachlan and James listened to the “hoity-toity” set with whom they socialized at their swank parties in Washington D.C. Some reporters have also noted that both their wives were embarrassed that Fox was championing “conservativism,” or that Fox under Roger Ailes had the gall to allow any ideas except the Liberal viewpoint out for public consumption. It didn’t matter that these views are held by at least 50% of the American Public. “Those rubes in flyover country, that is blue-collar working folks in the Midwest and South just don’t matter. Besides, we’ll never see them at any of the parties that we attend with the rich and famous set we so adore.”
In a recent Newsmax interview with Elizabeth Ailes, Roger’s widow, regarding Tucker Carlson’s abrupt cancellation, Elizabeth explained:
“‘Roger made running Fox News look easy, and as you know, it was anything but,’ she told Newsmax host Eric Bolling. ‘Rupert has the checkbook, he has money, but he couldn't hold a candle to Roger in terms of genius, and the ideas that Roger put forth back in 96, she said, noting that it was her late husband who developed the right-wing network’s fair and balanced and we report, you decide slogans. ‘That was a challenge to the establishment mainstream media who thought that just because they said they were objective people, we would take them at their word, and we all know that they were very liberal all that time. My thought is that I go back to July 2016, when events unfolded, and after 20 years of running the channel and turning it into a $20 billion asset, throwing off $2 billion in profits, the sons Lachlan and James had decided that they wanted Roger gone,’ she said. ‘Roger said to me, these useless kids tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber are going to ruin the channel and turn it into CNN and that's exactly what's happening,’ she added.” [https://www.rawstory.com/roger-ailes-wife-interview/]
Yes, Lachlan and James are modern day versions of Rehoboam. And the talent that would have allowed Fox News to continue its dominance: Bill O’Reilly, Megan Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Dan Bongino and Lou Dobbs, have either been pressured out, or not actively retained by these Modern Day Rehoboams. I’m guessing that Fox Board members like RINO Paul Ryan have had their hand in these moves. We’re now learning from Christopher Moore, biographer and writer of a new book on Tucker Carlson, titled “Tucker,” that Fox News sidelining of Tucker Carlson was a critical part of the Dominion settlement with Fox. So why would a “vote counting company” want a Cable News host fired? It sure appears that the same players who are changing the United States into a Third World Country are in a concerted effort to eliminate all dissenting voices. Even Legal Scholar Alan Dershowitz stated in a Gateway Pundit article written by Jim Hoft: “The Dominion Settlement Should Never Have Happened, something else had to be involved.” Here’s the quote:
“It’s a settlement that should never have happened. Dominion wasn’t hurt. It really didn’t lose any money… It’s probably making more in its lawsuits than counting votes. And it would have been very hard for them to prove any damages. Also, the judge made error, after error, after error. For example, he made a ‘finding’, a finding that the election was fair. 40 million Americans disagree with him. That should have been left up to a jury not to him… And so the judgment itself to make a deal was not based on cost-benefit financial analysis. Something else had to have been involved. Maybe FOX was afraid of disclosure of even more dirty laundry.” [https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/its-a-settlement-that-never-should-have-happened-something-else-had-to-have-been-involved-harvard-professor-and-attorney-dershowitz-on-fox-settlement-with-dominion/]
That “something else” is no doubt the corrupt pressure from the “New World Order,” desperate to destroy all dissenting voices. In hindsight, Rehoboam listening to his young advisors was not a smart move. And neither have Lachlan and James Murdoch’s decisions over the past 6+ years been wise. The woke advisors they are listening to have given them bad counsel. It took Rupert Murdoch 20 years, listening to Roger Ailes’ counsel, to build Fox into a media powerhouse. And it’s taken Rupert’s sons only six years to decimate that empire.
History does in fact repeat!