Why Donald Trump Will Not Win

Donald Trump will not win the presidency. However, he will lose not because his policy proposals are racist, homophobic, misogynistic, or anti-immigrant, and definitely not because the election is rigged against him. Trump will not win because of biased media coverage and Trump’s failure to unite his party and appeal to independents.

While WikiLeaks has exposed the corruption of the Clintons, namely the “gift” that Bill Clinton received from the Qatar government, the information itself holds no political value if people are not aware of it. Newsbusters has shown that “morning and evening news shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC dedicated 4 hours and 13 minutes” on Trump’s tape, compared to a meager 36 minutes on WikiLeaks. That’s a stunning 7 to 1 ratio. What is more concerning, however, is that even the 36 minutes of coverage is carefully selected so uninformed viewers can’t fully grasp the magnitude of Clinton’s corruption. Take for example an article on CNN titled “What we’ve learned from the hacked emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign (so far).” The article states that the emails mirror “Clinton’s reputation as a methodical and tactical politician,” and that the secret transcripts “have failed to turn up any positions widely different than what she says in public.” How about the collaboration between news organizations and the Clinton campaign? How about her stance on open borders? Nothing.

However, the media is not always against Trump. Some believe that Trump’s receiving of nearly 3 billion dollars in free coverage throughout the primaries was because of his mastery in manipulating the media for his political gain. Three months into the general election, however, it has become clear that it was the media that manipulated Trump. In the primaries, the media was all for Trump. As aforementioned, they gave him invaluable media coverage and branded his campaign as reactionary, honest, and anti-politician in its appeal to more right leaning conservatives who voted in the primaries. The media, however, was sitting on a pile of negative information, such as the Billy Bush and Howard Stern tapes, on Trump, and tricked the Republican Party into nominating a problematic candidate.

And then 30 days prior to Election Day, a disgusting tape of Trump magically appeared and tanks his poll numbers, effectively handing Hillary Clinton the election. Furthermore, as people rushed to defend Trump, the liberal media was given free ammunition to smear and attack the conservative movement as one that objectifies women and cares nothing for women’s rights. This was the leftist media’s plan all along–Trump’s “free coverage,” perhaps, came with a hefty price for him and the conservative movement. After all, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

In addition to the detrimental effects of the media, Trump’s actions and words, though they have done so in the past, are leading conservative individuals to distance themselves from the Republican candidate. Some conservatives and Republicans are endorsing and voting for Gary Johnson–who has a record of increasing debt, believes in resettling more Syrian refugees in the United States under current circumstances, and amnesty–all of which conflict with the Republican party platform. Some Republican leaders, such as Paul Ryan, have distanced themselves from the Trump campaign in an effort to save Republican majorities in Congress.

When the Speaker of the House, previous presidential candidates, and previous Republican presidents refuse to campaign with/simply endorse the nominee, and when conservatives flee to endorse a candidate without a strong conservative record, there is a problem with the nominee.

Furthermore, not only does Trump have problems uniting his own party, but he also has problems appealing to the independent voter. His debate performances, in which he did not focus on Clinton’s emails and corruption, but rather blabbed about Sean Hannity, bragged about his balance sheet, and, most notably, refused to confirm that he will accept the election result, have not aided his cause. Polls show that he is losing to Clinton among independents in key swing states. In addition, while he may have an enthusiastic supporter base, he also has a 60.7% un-favorability rating to go along with that. It is difficult to win an election with a ceiling of enthusiastic supporters but an endless mountain of opponents.

Conservatives across the U.S. should learn from this disastrous experience. We should understand that the media is willing to do anything to get their desired candidate elected, even if it is at the expense of the American people’s right to complete and accurate information about their candidates. We should understand that a candidate who has proved to be strongly unfavorable during the primary will not change during the general election. The conservative movement will rebound in 2020 smarter and stronger.