MSNBC shifts approach on taking Donald Trump live, outlets fail to use plain language to describe extremist Mark Robinson, Epic Games blasts Apple, Elon Musk suggests X might hide the like/repost count on posts, a jury finds "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter, and so much more. But first, the A1.

Outfoxing Murdoch

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Donald Trump just defeated Rupert Murdoch (again).

With Nikki Haley exiting the presidential race, the twice-impeached, four-time indicted, insurrection-inciting former president has vanquished the field of Republican Party challengers to secure unbridled control over the GOP.

That's an outcome that Murdoch, the billionaire media mogul and one-time Republican kingmaker who controls Fox News, had hoped to avoid. Murdoch has privately leveled harsh criticism against Trump. And after the 2020 election, he even wrote in an email to a Fox News executive, disclosed during litigation with Dominion Voting Systems, "We want to make Trump a non person."

While Fox News never completely turned on Trump and blasted the election-denying president with its full might, the network did without question give him the cold shoulder as it flirted with other candidates in the Republican field over the last few years, most notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Fox News eagerly propped up DeSantis post-2020, all while effectively blacklisting Trump for a time. Murdoch's tabloid The New York Post even once declared DeSantis "DeFUTURE." That was no accident.

Trump himself understood that Murdoch has not wanted him to serve as the Republican nominee. Over the past few years, he has repeatedly raged at the media mogul on his Truth Social platform, blasting him for perceived slights and for having worked to elevate DeSantis. 

Some of this criticism has been unfair, as we've noted, given Fox News' general refusal to throw actual elbows at Trump and still echo much of his dishonest rhetoric, repeatedly shielding him as he was hit with 91 criminal counts and civil fraud judgments worth hundreds of millions of dollars after exiting office. But Trump was not wrong in his assessment that Murdoch's network certainly would have preferred to have had another candidate at the helm of the Republican Party. 

Now that Trump has secured command over the GOP, it is déjà vu for Murdoch. Eight years after Trump beat Fox News into submission during the 2016 race (remember when the network sparred openly with him over his trashing of then-anchor Megyn Kelly, among other things?), he has done the same again. That means that as the presumptive GOP nominee, Trump will once again have Fox News at his full disposal, able to wield the network like he did during his time in the White House as an effective political weapon, which he will harness in the weeks and months ahead against President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.

Of course, the writing has been on the wall for Murdoch for some time now. And that has been reflected gradually in Fox News' coverage. In recent months, the network has returned to its old ways, handing over its massive platform to Trump and allowing him to spread mis-and-disinformation. The reversal has even led Fox anchors to attack other outlets for having the courage to hold the wall against Trump's lies and fact check his claims.

With his victory in the primaries official, Trump has not only secured control over the GOP, but regained command of his most powerful propaganda organ. Fox News — which will never support a Democratic candidate for president — is left with no real choice but to prop him up. Murdoch and his network executives know that if they were to dare not fall in line, Trump could batter the right-wing channel and encourage his legion of fans to switch over to Newsmax, as was the case in the immediate wake of the 2020 election.

Put more simply: Trump has checkmated Murdoch, clearing one more hurdle standing in his way on the path to the White House.

CNN Photo Illustration/Chuck Burton/AP

The Robinson Reality: Who is Mark Robinson? He's an Adolf Hitler-quoting, Islamophobic, homophobic, election-denying conspiracy theorist who just secured the Republican Party's nomination for governor in North Carolina. In other words, he's an extremist. That should not be hard for news outlets to say. But strangely, prominent news organizations seem to have a difficult time using such plain language to describe him. Instead, some outlets are describing him as "controversial" or a "political firebrand," a far weaker — and insufficient — description.

The NYT, The WSJ, and CNN all did so in digital stories over the last 24 hours. While CNN and The WSJ at least included context in its reporting about Robinson's extremist rhetoric, The NYT initially failed to do so Wednesday in a story with the single purpose of answering "Who Is Mark Robinson?" Only after The NYT was criticized for the glaring omission did it add context at the very bottom of its article mentioning his history of repugnant comments. That led me to ask a spokesperson for The NYT why it would bury that crucial information at the bottom of its story. I didn't hear back, but the story was later updated to mention his history of reprehensible commentary closer to the top.

🔎 Zooming in: While it might be uncomfortable for some journalists to refer to a candidate for governor as an extremist, it is the reality. Readers, who don't have the time to spend their days going down online rabbit holes, rely on news organizations to be clear-eyed and tell them who these candidates are. It's the literal purpose of publishing "who is " stories, not simply to reap SEO traffic! Most news outlets have no problem calling figures like Alex Jones an extremist. So why shy away from the label when it comes to others?

► Since we are noting the outlets that got it wrong, we should also give kudos to those that nailed the headline. The Guardian, in particular, did a nice job with this headline: "Hitler-quoting candidate wins North Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary."

CNN Photo Illustration/Arda Kucukkaya/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Epic Fight With Apple: The fight between Apple and Epic Games continued on Wednesday to escalate. In a blistering statement, Epic Games said Apple rejected its E.U. developer account, adding that it believes the Silicon Valley titan "is retaliating against Epic for speaking out against Apple’s unfair and illegal practices." The two companies have for years been duking it out against each other over Apple's 30% fee for in-app purchases. Epic previously sued Apple over the matter, a case it largely lost. An Apple spokesperson on Wednesday alluded to that, saying, "Epic’s egregious breach of its contractual obligations to Apple led courts to determine that Apple has the right to terminate ‘any or all of Epic Games’ wholly owned subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other entities under Epic Games’ control at any time and at Apple’s sole discretion.′ In light of Epic’s past and ongoing behavior, Apple chose to exercise that right." CNBC's Kim Leswing has more here.

CNN Photo Illustration/Luis Sánchez Saturno/Santa Fe New Mexican/Pool/AP

Gun Armorer Found Guilty: A jury quickly rendered a verdict on Wednesday in the trial of Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the "Rust" armorer who faced involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering charges in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. After only a few hours of deliberation, the jury found Gutierrez Reed guilty of manslaughter, while acquitting her of evidence tampering. The manslaughter charge carries up to 18 months in prison. Gutierrez Reed had denied responsibility and her lawyers have alleged Alec Baldwin was ultimately responsible for the tragedy. CNN's Cheri Mossburg, Christina Maxouris, and Josh Campbell have more.