Fox Business host tells Lara Trump her father-in-law Donald has lost his 'old magic'
- Fox Business host Stuart Varney said there wasn't a "great reception" to Trump's campaign launch.
- He asked Lara Trump if it was possible that her father-in-law had lost his "old magic."
In an awkward on-air exchange, a Fox Business host suggested that former President Donald Trump may have lost some of his sway over the GOP.
On Wednesday, Fox Business host Stuart Varney told Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump that he thought there was a lackluster response to the former president's 2024 announcement.
"I have to say that there wasn't a great reception to the speech last night. Not a single elected Republican official was there," Varney said.
"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?" she said.
"Oh, well, I highly disagree with that," replied Lara Trump, a Fox News contributor who is married to Trump's son Eric. She said that the "energy" at Mar-a-Lago made her feel like the good vibes from her father-in-law's 2016 run were back.
The Fox Business host's prodding of Trump's daughter-in-law comes as media outlets under the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp seem to be bailing on the former president.
This dates back to July, when the New York Post slammed Trump in a scorching editorial. That piece called Trump "unworthy to be this country's chief executive again" because of his silence on January 6 during the Capitol riot.
That same month, Trump slammed "Fox & Friends," a show that was once among his favorites. In an angry post on Truth Social, Trump accused the show's hosts of botching his poll numbers "on purpose" in favor of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
There have been rumblings after a lackluster GOP midterms performance that Murdoch's empire might be turning on the former president. British media outlets iNews and The Guardian reported, citing anonymous sources, that Murdoch told Trump that he will not back a fresh White House bid.
The New York Post this month mocked "Trumpty Dumpty" for failing to put the GOP "back together again." Trump's re-election speech on Tuesday was also buried on page 26 of the paper on Wednesday, under the headline: "Florida Man Makes Announcement."
Representatives for News Corp did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.