“A Gentleman from Florida Makes an Announcement”

Former US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening his intention to return to govern the country. The tycoon, passionate about generating headlines and occupying the front pages, especially among related media, this morning found in one of his old media allies, the New York Post, a simple mocking sentence at the bottom of his home page: “A Florida gentleman makes an announcement.

The front page this Wednesday of the News Corp-owned tabloid, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, devotes much of its space to a massacre in Idaho and drops a short headline at the bottom of one of the country’s major political news stories. of the day, but without too many specifics. “FLORIDA MAN MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT (Florida man makes an announcement,” and a call to the rest of the information on page 26. This man from the country’s southern state is the former president of the United States, who that once treated means better.

The news impacted the coverage of most of the rest of the national media in the United States. The New York Times, to a lesser extent, the Wall Street Journal or the Washington Post focused the front page of their edition this Tuesday on Trump’s announcement or at least on the repercussions it could have within the Republican Party, which last week last time he was defeated by the Democrats in the midterm or midterm elections. “Trump announces his candidacy ignoring his party’s pushback”; “Trump enters 2024 campaign after tough legislative sessions for opposition”; or “The Republican Party thinks twice about Trump,” read this morning on some covers in kiosks across the country.

The mockery by the New York Post (TNP), which is among the ten most-read newspapers in the United States, follows a series of front-page criticisms of the former president published in recent days. “Deniers denied”, read just two days ago – after the announcement of the final results of the elections – its front page, with a photo of the distraught billionaire and the subtitle: “Voters punish candidates Trump supported”.

Just a week ago, he released another one with the title “Trumpty Dumpty”, a pun on the English song Humpty Dumpty, an awkward and erratic egg-shaped character. “Don, who couldn’t build a wall, had a big fall (Don, who couldn’t build a wall, fell”, referring to the electoral failure. The day before, after the election, in which the Republican Governor of Florida, Ron de Santis, the New York Post headlined, with another play on words: “DeFUTURE (ElFuturo)”.

The criticism and ridicule of the newspaper owned by Murdock, directed by Col Allan, is striking for the story that unites that newspaper with the tycoon and former president, who in the past openly declared that it was his favorite tabloid. After the 2020 election, which gave victory to Joe Biden, a defeated Trump persisted in the allegations of fraud and denied the legitimacy of the result. The paper then called on the president to abandon what he described as a “dark parade” and concede defeat.

“You had every right to investigate the election, but let’s be clear: those efforts have found nothing,” he warned, and continued: “We understand, Mr. President, that you are angry about your defeat […] But continuing on this path is ruinous. We suggest, from a newspaper that has supported and defended you, that if you want to cement your influence, even considering running again in the future, you need to channel your anger into something productive.

Gone were those days when Trump and he Post they were part of the same thing. Several decades ago, a successful businessman, still with dormant political ambitions, used the newspaper to unearth specific information about his love affairs. Four years ago, journalist Jill Brooke told The Hollywood Reporter how when she was on the Trump newspaper’s editorial board, she managed to convince Marla Maples, her lover in the 1990s, to make statements to them that led to the cover with a smiley face of the builder: “The best sex I’ve ever had.”

Much later would come the victorious covers. “President Trump. They said it was impossible,” said the one of November 9, 2018, after the presidential victory against Hillary Clinton. A few years earlier, in 2015, the outlet hailed Trump’s intentions to feature his company logo in gold letters above the White House and his statements: “I will take over the White House.” He was the same person that this Wednesday had become a simple man in Florida announcing things.