We do not yet know who won the race for the Oval Office, but we know who lost: the pundits, pollsters and — especially — the liberal media that have infuriated half the country.
The left-leaning newspapers, networks and social media giants for weeks broadcast predictions of a blue wave, spun the worst-case scenarios about COVID-19, withheld from the public damaging and credible information about Joe Biden’s involvements with son Hunter’s shady business deals, and ignored the former vice president’s mental lapses.
The anti-Trump media continued to proclaim the Democratic presidential nominee a “moderate” in spite of towering evidence to the contrary. And they inexcusably suppressed comments by the president of the United States.
In short, the liberal media did everything possible to carry Joe Biden across the finish line; their contributions to his campaign were incalculable.
These acts were purposeful and they had consequences.
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During the weeks leading up to Election Day, the steady drumbeat of polls and news stories downplaying the president’s reelection chances discouraged his supporters. Many wondered if it was worth voting; they asked on Twitter and Facebook if the president had any chance at all of being reelected.
Many Trump backers soured on his prospects; the money flowing to his campaign began to dry up. Meanwhile, the swell of upbeat expectations fattened Biden’s coffers as donors on Wall Street and elsewhere began to see the Democrat as likely to win.
Nobody wants to be left off the gravy train, after all.
Less than two weeks before the election, the Biden camp had $177 million in the till; combined with the Democratic National Committee, the campaign had total resources of $432 million.
In September alone, the Democratic and allied PACS raised the staggering sum of $383 million.
Trump and GOP groups initially leapt ahead in the fund-raising battle, but pulled in only $248 million in September, and had a total amount on hand of $251 million.
During the weeks leading up to Election Day, the steady drumbeat of polls and news stories downplaying the president’s reelection chances discouraged his supporters.
Given the huge money advantage in the final days of the contest, the Biden team was able to outspend the Trump campaign by a factor of two, throwing enormous resources into TV advertising in vital swing states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, and online ads as well.
Money doesn’t always make the difference, as the well-funded Hillary Clinton found in 2016; but it helps.
The one-sided coverage of this campaign in the anti-Trump media is no surprise. They declared war on President Trump more than four years ago, and have never paused to reconsider their all-consuming enmity. It has cost them.
In September, a Gallup poll assessed the nation’s “trust and confidence” in the media to report the news "fully, accurately, and fairly.” The results were not heartening.
Only 9% of respondents said they trusted the mass media “a great deal”; 27% said they had “not very much” trust in the press; and a near-record 33% said they had “none at all.” That’s quite a report card.
Needless to say, it was Republicans who drove the numbers down, with the survey recording a record 63-percentage-point gap in trust among supporters of the opposing political parties.
The liberal media’s lopsided manipulation and reporting on this race may not be surprising, but the outcome is. The reporters and pundits got nearly everything wrong.
For months we were told that President Trump had so offended white women that he had no chance of defeating Biden. But some exit polls show Trump doing better with white women than he did in 2016.
We were told that the Democrats would grab control of the Senate; that looks unlikely.
We were told that Trump was a racist, and that Black and Brown Americans would turn out in droves to vote for Joe Biden. Instead, Trump got the biggest support from minorities of any Republican since 1960.
We were told that Trump’s supposed mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic was so terrible that it cost him the support of seniors, but he actually led with older voters.
We were told that the GOP would lose a dozen seats in the House of Representatives. Instead, they gained seats.
How can so many smart media types get an election so totally wrong? Because liberal journalists have never tried to understand Trump’s appeal, or why so many millions of Americans are in his corner.
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Those on the left have demeaned Trump voters as “Deplorables,” as Hillary Clinton did; Joe Biden called some Trump backers “ugly folks.” Liberals hint that Trump backers are racist, or prone to weird conspiracy theories.
The left routinely has criticized Trump for not expanding “his base,” as though that was a few dozen rednecks hanging out at the local bowling alley.
Trump support turns out to come from nearly half the nation, from all walks of life, and it has built over the past four years. It has grown because African Americans and Hispanics, among others, have begun (at last) to question whether Democratic policies work for them.
It has grown as small business owners across the country saw that Trump’s policies of low taxes and less red tape would help them thrive.
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Trump’s base has expanded to include even more factory workers, who applaud Trump’s efforts to confront China and demand better trade terms.
If Biden becomes president these folks will not disappear. They will look for a candidate ready to take up the same battles and to look out for their interests.
And they will look to get even with the dishonest liberal media and the social media giants that even now are censoring questions being raised about election irregularities in Wisconsin, Michigan and. Pennsylvania, according to a tweet from former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
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How to demand fairness from the dishonest liberal press and tyrannical social media platforms? Nobody knows. Maybe Republicans in the Senate will try to strip Twitter and Facebook of their protections against lawsuits; maybe some new information platform will emerge that does not attempt to editorialize.
Americans are an entrepreneurial and creative people; they will find a way. Let us hope they do so before 2024.