Rupert Murdoch’s Media Empire Is Freaking Out Over Donald Trump’s Tariffs

 Rupert Murdoch’s Media Empire Is Freaking Out Over Donald Trump’s Tariffs

The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post have registered notes of panic about this week’s financial calamity, while Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters have mocked the naysayers as Chicken Littles.

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April 8, 2025

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 02: U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a chart while speaking during a “Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. Touting the event as “Liberation Day”, Trump is expected to announce additional tariffs targeting goods imported to the U.S. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

However, during the primetime hours, network hosts, administration officials, and other guests stood firm on beating the Trump drum, defending the president for his tariff plan and arguing that concern over the financial market nosedive is being oversold.

Laura Ingraham focused her primetime show Monday on what she considers to be unwarranted panic, saying, “Sometimes the frenzy is so over the top it’s cartoonish.” Accompanying Ingraham’s monologue was a clip of Disney’s Chicken Little, panicking that the “sky is falling.” Afterwards, she played a supercut of CNN and MSNBC segments where hosts including Dana Bash and Ari Melber expressed intense worry about the economic strain this could put on the country, comparing their commentary to the exaggerated cartoon. “This, of course, is absurd,” Ingraham said, even while acknowledging that the gyrations of the market— which she noted was “down as much as 16,000 points at one point today”—were “jarring to watch and feel.”

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Later, White House senior advisor Peter Navarro joined Ingraham, parroting talking points from the administration and reiterating that panic is not necessary. He promised that there would be “no recession” and no inflation resulting from the trade wars.

During his primetime show, Jesse Watters asked podcaster Patrick Bet-David whether he was a “Panican,” a phrase Trump has used in an attempt to diminish the value of widely expressed market concern. “No, I’m just happy the fact that he’s coming through on the promises that he made,” Bet-David replied, pointing to moments on the campaign trail when Trump made his intentions clear. “It’s going to be a whole new standard for the American people.” During his show, Watters also mocked CNBC’s Jim Cramer, who warned that the tariff would cause a “Black Monday,” saying, “Those crying on CNBC are the same ones who were happy to shut down the entire economy for a virus with a 99% survival rate.”

But as Fox News holds steady on towing the Trump line, even the president’s favorite Murdoch-owned newspaper, the New York Post, called for Trump to stop the “tariff meltdown” and “start talking trade deals.” In a Monday piece, the Post’s editorial board claimed the president has “the world in a panic”—a clear attempt to signal to the White House that negotiating with the EU and others will save the U.S. economy. “Mr. President,” the Post wrote, “take ‘yes’ for an answer.