Hello from night two of the RNC! Rupert Murdoch arrives in Milwaukee, Donald Trump Jr. hits Fox News, a jury finds former Ozy Media boss Carlos Watson guilty, Warner Bros. Discovery lays off more staffers, Elon Musk vows to move X to Texas, "Twisters" looks to take the box office by storm, and so much more. But first, the A1.

Cracks in Cesar's Palace

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Cesar Conde has found himself — yet again — on the receiving end of a stinging on-air rebuke from his high-wattage MSNBC stars.

For the second time in only a few months, questions about the NBC News Group chairman's leadership were raised in extraordinary fashion, with the "Morning Joe" team on Tuesday publicly expressing dismay that NBC brass had the day before pulled their broadcast from the air in wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

Joe Scarborough, speaking alongside co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist, offered viewers a peek behind the curtain into the conspicuous decision-making process that transpired over the weekend. Scarborough said that the "Morning Joe" team had been informed Sunday evening that all of MSNBC’s opinion-oriented dayside lineup would be pre-empted for a single NBC News feed covering the attempt on Trump's life.

But, as Scarborough noted, "That did not happen." Instead of high-profile NBC News anchors, such as Lester Holt and Savannah Guthrie, anchoring special coverage, MSNBC aired two hours of "MSNBC Reports" and two hours of its streaming service's programming, NBC News Now. And oddly enough, no other MSNBC shows were pre-empted. Only "Morning Joe."

"We don’t know why that was that didn’t happen. Our team was not given a good answer as to why that didn’t happen," Scarborough said. "But it didn’t happen."

Scarborough, who said the entire "Morning Joe" team was "very surprised" and "very disappointed" in the turn of events spurred by NBC brass, even went as far to offer network leadership an ultimatum. 

"Next time we are told there is going to be a news feed replacing us, we will be in our chairs," he said. "And the news feed will be us, or they can get somebody else to host the show."

While the top-rated, largely unscripted show has long been a must-watch for politicos in the Acela Corridor, the program has taken on additional significance in recent weeks, airing major news-making live interviews with President Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and others as the president battles to continue his campaign. Without "Morning Joe" airing on Monday, viewers rebelled against MSNBC, opting to change the channel, Nielsen data indicated. During the four-hour block, the total audience was down 40%, and the demo plunged nearly 50%, compared to this year's average.

Spokespeople for NBC News Group and MSNBC did not directly respond to Scarborough's Tuesday remarks. But the flare up represented another embarrassing moment for Conde in which behind-the-scenes tension between MSNBC and NBC News Group found its way into the public view. It also raised questions about the progressive news network's editorial decisions and independence, particularly as Trump and his allies target its parent company, Comcast.

The move to bench the "Morning Joe" crew, after all, didn't happen in a vacuum. Over the course of the last year, Trump has assailed Brian Roberts, the Comcast chairman, applying pressure on him over his distaste for coverage from MSNBC. In November, Trump called Roberts a "slime ball" and declared the government "should come down hard on them" and "make them pay" for their supposedly "illegal political activity." 

"Much more to come, watch!" Trump wrote at the time, a not-so-veiled threat.

Those attacks on Comcast were revived in the immediate aftermath of the Trump assassination attempt. Trump's allies leveled attacks against MSNBC, accusing the network in bad faith of radicalizing Trump's critics and, thus, creating an environment that led to the shooting. (It should be noted that, at this time, authorities have not determined the shooter's motive.) At the RNC this week, attacks on MSNBC have been in vogue, with GOP figures such as Donald Trump Jr. and Sarah Huckabee Sanders singling out the outlet and bashing it. 

Suffice to say, Roberts and the Comcast team, which will potentially have M&A business before the next presidential administration, probably do not wish to find themselves on Trump's enemies list. A spokesperson for Comcast did not comment Tuesday when asked whether Roberts has weighed in on any of NBC News Group's recent programming decisions. Regardless, it's not difficult to imagine that he been irked by the situation at MSNBC, a small slice of the business at Comcast, that continues to cause headaches.

Which is why, perhaps, Comcast is involved in cleaning up the "Morning Joe" mess. I'm told that the company's president, Mike Cavanagh, rescheduled meetings on Tuesday to grapple with the fallout stemming from the "Morning Joe" commentary.

While this particular episode will almost certainly blow over soon enough, the underlying issues are likely to remain. Without strong leadership atop NBCU News Group — leadership that is truly respected by staff — it's hard to imagine that such eruptions from talent will miraculously come to a halt. If anything, the staff at 30 Rock might feel more empowered to speak out against network brass after the events of the last few months. And that can't bode well for Conde, who must be standing on thinning ice as it becomes more evident he is struggling to manage the increasingly vocal personalities who, at least on paper, report to him.

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Junior Jabs Murdoch: Donald Trump Jr. claimed victory over media mogul and longtime Republican kingmaker Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday, asserting the 91-year-old no longer sits on the GOP throne as his father takes over the party. "There was a time where if you wanted to survive in the Republican Party, you had to bend the knee to him or to others," Trump Jr. told Axios' Mike Allen at the Republican National Convention. "I don't think that's the case anymore." The comments came after Murdoch, who has a long and complicated relationship with Trump, recently lost a behind-the-scenes struggle over the party's VP nominee, backing Gov. Doug Burgum. Further underscoring the divide, Trump Jr. said he advocated for his father to tap either Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who Murdoch fired last year, or Sen. J.D. Vance for the nod. "I would have, you know, [Carlson] and J.D. would have been the two people I would have loved to see as a VP," he made clear. 

► Like his father, Trump Jr. also claimed Fox News has been unfair to him, claiming he has been blacklisted by the right-wing cable channel. But a network spokesperson told me in a statement that Trump Jr. had been on the network's air just the day before and that he had been previously booked on "Fox & Friends" for a Wednesday appearance. Trump Jr. also appeared on "Hannity" Tuesday night. "He is and always has been welcome on all Fox News Media platforms," the Fox News spokesperson said. Statement aside, it is true that Trump Jr.'s appearances on Fox News had dried up. Media Matters' Matthew Gertz observed on X that his last weekday appearance on the network, prior to this week, was on May 10, 2022. And it is notable that the Trump family has been trashing Murdoch since the 2020 election, in which Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden. Even on Tuesday, as Trump Jr. was complaining about his lack of Fox News appearances, he criticized Murdoch. "I just think conventional media, on both sides of the mainstream, I think they've done a lot of disservices to the people," Trump Jr. said, swiping at the mogul.

CNN Photo Illustration/Susan Walsh/AP

Musk's Vow to Move: If you work at X or SpaceX, prepare to move to Texas. Elon Musk vowed on Tuesday to move the headquarters of his companies to the red state. Musk made the announcement while complaining about "gangs of violent drug addicts" in the city of San Francisco, where X is currently headquartered. But he said the "final straw" had been a law signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom banning school policies on trans student parental notification. The LAT's Laurence Darmiento has more here.

► Speaking of Musk: Kate Conger and Ryan Mac write that the billionaire's decision to back Donald Trump in November's election "broke with tradition set by the leaders of other major social media firms, none of whom have endorsed a presidential candidate," adding that "[b]y using X as a megaphone for his politics — posting to his nearly 190 million followers — Mr. Musk also erased any air of neutrality for the platform."

CNN Photo Illustration/Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures/Everett Collection

A Box Office Storm: "Twisters" is set to unleash high winds on the box office. The sequel to the classic film is on track to net about $50 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro and Nancy Tartaglione reported Tuesday. Overseas, the movie is set to earn $45-50 million, the duo added. The film will open this weekend in 4,000 theaters, including Imax, raising hopes it will continue the box office's recent hot streak. Read the full story here.