As TV chevrons began to display Trump overwhelmingly winning the Iowa Republican caucuses - the Associated Press called the race 29 minutes after the caucuses began and estimated Trump to have won with 51.1% of the vote with 94% of the votes in - a look at print media outlets told a different story.
The respected pollster Nate Cohn brought back the narrative of the 2016 campaign by again talking about college-educated voters and those without a college degree. Writing for the New York Times, Cohn said:
The early results show an extraordinary educational divide, with Nikki Haley routing Donald Trump in precincts where a majority of the population has a college degree, even as she fails even to clear 10 percent in many less educated areas.
You can't find Cohn's quote now because the New York Times has since changed it. When it comes to covering Trump, media organizations naturally go negative, and then moderate it a bit when their bias shows.
Cohn's analysis, while it may be statistically accurate, is irrelevant. In 2016, the Liberal media's attacks against Trump were largely cultural - that he is racially insensitive, is a white supremacist, and clings to a blue-collared vision of America, touting guns and beer as against that of a more elite, suburban, college-educated culture. But in 2024, Cohn failed to acknowledge that Trump is running on Biden's failed presidency - the endless war, the hyper-inflation, the mind boggling deficit, the lawless southern border and more than seven million illegal immigrants threatening American cities, the lawfare against Trump, and the disputed 2020 election. Furthermore, a whopping 67% of Americans believe that America is on the wrong track, among the highest such ratings for any president in recent history. Whether college-educated or not, Americans are victims of Biden's disastrous policies.
Note the word "rout" Cohn uses to describe Haley's performance when the best she could do, despite a heavy push by the Left, was to win third place, at 19% of the vote, tying the delegate count with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who came in second at 21% of the vote. How can anyone coming in third "rout" the winner who won more than 50% of the total vote?
Nor was Cohn alone for the NYT doing duty for Haley. Cindy Hadish ignored Trump's landslide victory altogether - Trump won more votes than the rest of the opponent field combined - and again made the reporting about a third-place finisher. "Pam Mott, 71, a retired insurance agent, switched parties tonight to vote for Haley at the caucus at Franklin Middle School in Cedar Rapids."Not what we wanted, of course," she said of the results. "I'll vote Democrat before I'd vote for Trump."
The Washington Post, trying hard to communicate President Biden's false message that the economy is doing fine, said that young voters are talking about Trump alternatives. Remember that young voters are among the demographic groups most hurt by Bidenomics.
With Vivek Ramaswamy, the fast-talking and intense debater who won raving applause for taking the media head-on, indicating that he would suspend his campaign following his fourth-place finish, the press wants next-stop New Hampshire to be a DeSantis-Haley contest. CNN tried this one-on-one debate last week by eliminating Ramaswamy from the debate stage. But twenty-five minutes into the TV spectacle, DeSantis and Haley continued to spar with each other and never discussed Trump. Meanwhile, Trump was at his recent best at a Fox News Townhall across town, looking sharp and being witty, reminding voters again how unprepared President Biden is in such a format.
The USA Today's headline blared that Trump "clinched" a win. The Cambridge Dictionary defines clinch as "to finally get or win something." So, Trump won Iowa after a string of primary or caucus losses? Someone should tell USA Today that Iowa was the first election in the 2024 primary calendar.
There was a "but" in every media line reporting Trump's victory. Some reports spoke about Trump's four felony counts, never once acknowledging that these charges were brought about by partisan Democrats who never wanted Trump to be on any statewide ballot. The Los Angeles Times declared, "Trump's victory in Iowa puts him on track for a comeback bid, despite criminal charges." Ok, the LA Times prefers "despite," instead of "but."
Expect the same negative coverage about Trump for the remainder of 2024. If Trump wins overwhelmingly in the primaries, as expected, there's a "but" to calibrate each line. If Trump wins narrowly, that would be a huge loss for Trump because the tide is shifting to Haley (preferred) or DeSantis (ouch). If Trump loses even a single state, it's game over for Trump and time to get into an orange jumpsuit and head to jail, with Haley, the new-generational GOP leader, to take Biden head-on.
It is little wonder that the modern American media is a laughing stock for the rest of the world.
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