CNN’s Michael Smerconish said Friday that relentless media coverage and criminal proceedings against President-elect Donald Trump likely played a key role in his victory.
The media has faced allegations of bias against Trump, and he was indicted four times during the 2024 presidential campaign. Smerconish, “press club“These factors ended up helping Trump, rather than hurting his appeal to voters.” (Related: President Trump appoints Tom Homan as ‘border czar’)
clock:
“I don’t want to cram everything into this one word or conclusion, but at the top of the list I say this…It’s like a parenting lesson: what you can’t do, what you can’t stand, what you can’t do. The more you tell people, don’t do this, don’t do this, the more people will rebel,” Smerconish told Mediaite editor Aidan McLaughlin. “Perhaps they ultimately came to their own conclusions and rejected Donald Trump. I don’t know.”
“But the combination of constant eyebrow-raising, media influence, four indictments, one conviction, and a loop broadcast of that awful joke that aired at Madison Square Garden a week before the election. I think so. And I said that,” he added. “Aiden, I can’t sit here and say, well, this is how I called the election, but I definitely felt there was potential for a boomerang effect, and I think that’s what happened. I really think so.”
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe performed at President Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on October 27, and received a huge backlash from the media for calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.” However, in his race against Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Trump won a majority of the Hispanic male vote nationwide.
Republican voters in Georgia told MSNBC on a show in May that Trump’s legal troubles had made them more passionate about supporting him.
“It actually made me support him more,” said one voter, Antonio Jones. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that there’s going to be a trial in Atlanta and there’s going to be a trial in New York. So what people, like me, are starting to ask themselves is, why now?”
As of Friday morning, Trump had won the popular vote by more than 76 million votes, leading Harris by 2 percentage points. According to To the Associated Press.
After Trump’s election victory, his two federal lawsuits will be dropped and the state case will likely be dropped as well, but an ambitious local prosecutor could prolong the fight, Daily Caller News Foundation reported. For example, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis signaled In an interview Wednesday with Atlanta News First, she said she plans to move forward with her lawsuit against Trump. It accuses him of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
All content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan news distribution service, is available free of charge to legitimate news publishers with large audiences. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and DCNF affiliation. If you have any questions about our guidelines or our partnership, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
