We're being played

[Saviolo]

4. It's been happening and it keeps happening

You are 100% correct. I and others on this board have been saying it for months. No matter how close this race really is, the news media absolutely NEED this to be a close race. That is the only way they get eyeballs in order to sell ads for revenue.

The symptoms have been there since Trump declared his entrance into the race. The media dutifully covered every crazy and rabid thing he said because that sort of controversy brings in viewers and sells ads. They reported on every crazy things he says and then hand-wringing with "Oh, no, how could this have ever happened?" Guess what? You built this! Your millions and millions of dollars of free campaign advertising in the form of news cycles and interviews, including letting him phone in constantly is part of his strategy.

I really do think that the drawn-out primary on the Democratic side helped the Democrats in the long run, because so long as the media could point to Hillary and Bernie still in conflict, they would report it. As soon as there was no question who would be the nominee for the DNC, the media would declare that race "boring" and go back to giving free news cycles to the latest crazy thing Trump said.