11 Surprising Predictions for Right Wing Media in 2023

By Howard Polskin, January 1, 2023

What will 2023 bring in the world of right wing media?  What will right wing outlets be focusing on? Who are their targets? Who are the teacher’s pets? Here are several random predictions based on my immersion in the right wing media echo chamber over the past five years.  But a word of caution: past performance is  no guarantee of future performance.  This is a highly volatile media sector where emotion and passion often count more than truth and fairness. 

#1. Covering Biden’s Age Will Not Get Old

Right wing media outlets focused relentlessly on Biden’s advanced age and alleged cognitive decline in 2022.  This trend will continue into 2023 and will only intensify. Biden’s aging brain remains his Achilles heel. Even if he surprises everyone and decides not to run, the attacks and sniping will not diminish.  It’s juicy low-hanging fruit for right wing pundits and they won’t miss an opportunity to take a swing at him.

#2. Right Wing Pundits Will Continue to Jump from Trump Train 

The love affair between Trump and the right wing press soured the last quarter of 2022 and there are no signs of a change in attitude toward the ex-president. In particular, the Rupert Murdoch right wing media machine including the Wall Street Journal and columnists in his NY Post, have not only abandoned support for Trump, there’s been outright hostility towards him. But if DeSantis falters as Trump’s  presumed GOP opposition look for the love affair to heat up again. 

#3. DeSantis Will Look Great Until…

Most aspiring presidential candidates look good until they decide to run.  Right now, DeSantis has played it perfectly and the right wing press has responded with positive if not outright hagiographic coverage.  However, once he throws his hat in the ring, anything can happen.  He’s not the most compelling presence and that weak point will be exposed in a head-to-head battle with the more dynamic ex-president.  Will the right wing press turn on him at some point? It’s a distinct possibility.

#4. Brittney Griner Will Become the New Colin Kaepernick

If Brittney Griner ever steps foot in an athletic arena, all eyes will be upon her during the playing of the National Anthem.  If she fails to rise*, she instantly becomes the new Colin Kaepernick in the eyes of the right wing press.

#5. Hunter Biden Will Hunted

Does the sun rise in the east? This is the one sure thing for 2023. 

#6. Fauci’s Gone But Will Not Be Forgotten by Right Wing Media

Someone had to be the villain for the pandemic and in the eyes of right wing media it was Dr. Anthony Fauci over the past three years.  He may no longer be employed by the government, but the attacks by the right wing press and GOP politicians will remain top of mind in 2023. 

#7. Dried Up Lake? Not a Chance

Kari Lake may have lost her bid to become Arizona’s governor but she’s not done.  The right wing press loves the flame-throwing, ex-anchorwoman from Arizona.  Whatever her next move in politics – and she’s sure to have one – the right wing press will be there to support her

#8. Drag Queen Story Hours Will Become Even More Politicized

Nothing seems to antagonize right wing media more than drag queen story hours, especially if they’re held in a public library.  As we swing into 2023 with the national election almost two years away, criticism from conservative media directed at these story hours will only increase as outlets attempt to position Democrats as the party of drag queen story hours. 

#9. The Transgender Agenda Will Remain in the Cross-Hairs

Right wing media will continue to criticize and insult the trans community.  Furthermore, look for conservative outlets to bolster its efforts portraying Democrats as the party of transgender rights.

#10. Paul Pelosi Conspiracy Theories Will Not Die

I’d love to file this under comic relief, but there are factions of conservative pundits who hold outlandish theories about the October 28 attack in Speaker Pelosi’s San Francisco home. Perhaps the true believers on the fringes of right wing media will hold an annual conference on the subject at Area 51 in the Nevada desert and it will be covered live by OAN. 

#11. Mike Pence Will Be Ignored

Mike who? The charisma-challenged Mike Pence will continue to be disregarded for the most part by the right wing press.  The more far-right branches of the press have not forgiven him for declining to overthrow the results of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.  The saner elements of the press have moved on. 

Howard Polskin is the President and Founder of TheRighting.

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*This phrase inaccurately implies that she hadn’t stood in the past.  That doesn’t appear to be true. Griner called for the WNBA, to stop playing the national anthem in 2020.