In September Kathryn tweeted: “A vote for Trump is a vote for climate catastrophe”, while on the night of the president’s stunning election victory she wrote: “I can’t believe this is happening. I am so ashamed.”

As I mentioned yesterday, and as you have no doubt already heard (unless you’re living under a rock), longtime cable news kingpin Bill O’Reilly was unceremoniously dumped from his primetime perch at Fox News Channel (FNC). I will say this upfront: I don’t really like Fox News all that much, besides Tucker Carlson’s show. However, they are useful as a counterweight against the extremely “progressive” mainstream media news organizations that comprise pretty much all of the TV landscape besides Fox. But they’ve sold plenty of bad goods over the years, like the Iraq War and various other Establishment GOP boondoggles. Let’s not let them off the hook for those disasters.

Still, reports in the wake of O’Reilly’s ouster are pretty worrying if you value the balance FNC helps provide. Apparently, the wives of the ascendant sons of Rupert Murdoch, James and Lachlan, have been making moves behind the scenes. First, they succeeded in their efforts to get the guy who helmed Fox News since its inception, Roger Ailes, shitcanned last summer. Now, they’ve gotten an arguably even bigger scalp…

Two powerful women quietly helped behind the scenes to bring Bill O’Reilly down. Sarah and Kathryn Murdoch — the wives of the ousted talk show host’s young bosses — are at least partially responsible for his humiliating exit from Fox News Wednesday… Behind the scenes, Sarah and James Murdoch’s wife, Kathryn, also pushed to sever the network’s ties to the prickly host, several sources said. While Fox News politically leans to the right, the wives of its top executives lean to the left. Kathryn and James Murdoch are the co-founders of the charity Quadrivium, which funds progressive causes like environmental protection, science, childhood health and equal opportunity in the workplace — issues not exactly aligned with many of Fox News’ biggest contributors.

Someone linked me to the Twitter account of Kathryn Murdoch earlier this morning, and at first, I thought this had to be a fake. How does it only have 227 followers, I asked myself. Then I went and looked at who those followers were. Two people who have written extensively about the Murdoch clan follow the account, as do bigwigs from the New York Post (a Murdoch property) and the Wall Street Journal (another Murdoch property).

I think it’s very safe to say this is her real account.

The most troublesome thing I see here is the globalist worldview that is represented in tweet after tweet. Such as her antipathy for so-called “fake news.” She means sites like mine, ones that deviate from the elitist narrative that is preferred by the jet-setting rich who have no real home country. They consider themselves citizens of the world.

Glad to see action on this. https://t.co/sYqmpOJwpR — Kathryn Murdoch (@KathrynAMurdoch) April 7, 2017

She also prefers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to Steve Bannon, which is no surprise. It is kind of surprising that she tweets about that preference in such a flamboyant manner.

Enough of President Bannon. President Jarvanka preferable. — Kathryn Murdoch (@KathrynAMurdoch) April 5, 2017

She also campaigned boisterously for Hillary Clinton and seems to just hate Donald Trump all the way around.

This election is not about left or right. It's about right or wrong. Reason or insanity. Backwards or forwards. #ImWithHer — Kathryn Murdoch (@KathrynAMurdoch) July 27, 2016

Can we impeach a candidate? Seriously. — Kathryn Murdoch (@KathrynAMurdoch) October 8, 2016

Happy to see this on Fox News. The final argument for Hillary Clinton, based on 3 indisputable facts – Fox News https://t.co/tYYdlVptbB — Kathryn Murdoch (@KathrynAMurdoch) November 7, 2016

Oh, I bet you were very happy to see that on Fox, Kathryn. I think we can all see where Fox is headed if you and crew get their way.

This is from the night of the election, once it became clear Donald Trump was going to end up being President Trump.

I can't believe this is happening. I am so ashamed. — Kathryn Murdoch (@KathrynAMurdoch) November 9, 2016

Here she is the day after, whining about how the elites had been (rightfully) demonized.

@SethMacFarlane I think we need to reclaim the word "Elite" to mean "thinking person" and wear it proudly. — Kathryn Murdoch (@KathrynAMurdoch) November 9, 2016

The list goes on and on. She’s even taken to propping up the insane rantings of Louise Mensch.

Under normal circumstances, it might not be worth worrying about what Mrs. James Murdoch is tweeting out. But report after report emphasizes the outsize influence she has on Fox News and the Murdoch media empire as a whole.

And while Rupert had always considered [Roger] Ailes one of his closest allies, his sons had a more difficult relationship with him. James’s wife, Kathryn Murdoch, in particular had always disliked Ailes, according to the magazine.

(link)

And Lachlan Murdoch’s wife is no better, also injecting her progressivism into the Murdoch family business.

Lachlan and Sarah have been married for 18 years and while the former model holds no official position in her father-in-law’s company, she is close to Rupert and according to sources is a very trusted member of the family. That is why her opinion about O’Reilly likely mattered so much much to Lachlan, who reportedly then banned together with brother James to convince their father that the host had to go.

If you want to see where Fox News is likely headed in the next 5-10 years, look no further than Kathryn and Sarah Murdoch.

UPDATE: While I was writing this, I was alerted to the top story on The Drudge Report. Check it out…

For James, 44, and Lachlan, 45, the hope is to reshape this legacy, to move Fox away from what they see as its retro, Trump-style views toward, well, something nicer (and to do this profitably, they hope, somehow). (link)

MORE: A reader pointed out this tidbit to me on Twitter. Kathryn actually used to work for the Clinton’s…

Kathryn Murdoch is described as a former model and marketing executive. According to Wikipedia she works for the Clinton Climate Initiative, a charitable foundation set up by the former U.S. president, Bill Clinton in 2006.

Another link…