12 of the most misguided media predictions about Donald Trump

Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. This is a real thing that has happened.

So now seems like a good moment to remember some of the many, many times we in the news media said this day would never come.

The media folks on this list shouldn't feel too badly; almost everyone else was wrong, too --- including three-quarters of the electorate, which in July believed that Trump was not a serious candidate, according to Gallup.

If you were a believer from the beginning, good for you. But you probably weren't.

In no particular order, here's a sampling of the most wrong media predictions about Trump's candidacy:

1. "Our emphatic prediction is simply that Trump will not win the nomination. It's not even clear that he's trying to do so." (Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight, Aug. 11)

2. "Historians looking back will peg the beginning of the end of the Trump show to his New Hampshire moment last week." (Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post, Sept. 22)

3. "Trump has every right to run. This is a democracy after all. But what he should not get is covered as though this is an even-close-to-serious attempt to either win the Republican nomination or influence the conversation in GOP circles in any significant way. It's not." (Chris Cillizza, The Fix, June 17)

4. "The chance of his winning [the] nomination and election is exactly zero." (James Fallows, the Atlantic magazine, July 13)

5. "Trump is no more going to actually win the nomination than Sanders is." (Matthew Yglesias, Vox, Aug. 5)

6. "Trump is toast after insult: 'McCain not a war hero.' " (New York Post cover, July 19)

7. "Donald Trump is going to lose because he is crazy." (Jonathan Chait, New York magazine, Aug. 26)

8. "When the primaries arrive early next year, the Trump vote will subdivide further among the other Republican tortoises. If he stays in, Donald Trump becomes another presidential also-ran. With ostentation suitable to his stature, Mr. Trump should retire to a skybox, and enjoy what he has wrought." (Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 30)

9. "Donald Trump is not going to be the next president of the United States. This reporter is already on record pledging to eat a bag of rusty nails if the real estate tycoon with the high hair manages to snag the GOP nomination, much less takes down likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton next fall." (Ben White, CNBC, July 17)

10. "Now, seriously, does anyone other than The Donald truly believe his fame and fortune are going to get him anywhere in a Republican presidential primary, let alone a general election? His candidacy has been a joke from the start. He makes for great copy, but so did Jack the Ripper." (Peter Fenn, U.S. News & World Report, July 20)

11. "We're told from (pretty much) every analyst out there - liberal, conservative, doesn't matter -- to not take Trump seriously, and they're right." (Joe Concha, Mediaite, July 9)

12. "It's going to be Rubio. I'm telling you: It's going to be Rubio." (David Brooks, New York Times columnist on NBC, Jan. 24)

Previously:

• 04/28/16: Trump thinks it's time to label him the 'presumptive nominee.' Nope.
• 04/25/16: The 'nasty effect,' and why Donald Trump supporters mistrust the media
• 03/07/16: Even Trump's favorite TV hosts, Scarborough and Bill O', can't avoid feuding with him
• 03/04/16: Mitt Romney: Media darling?
• 03/02/16: Donald Trump: The King of the 'No Comment'
• 02/29/16: Why this new media narrative could actually, for once, hurt Donald Trump
• 02/26/16: Why haven't Trump's tax returns, Clinton's speech gotten the Romney treatment?
• 02/08/16: In media coverage of Chelsea Clinton, the kid gloves are still on

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