After multiple prosecutions, two impeachments, two assassination attempts, and an intel agency conspiracy to frame him for Russian collusion—Donald Trump is somehow coming back to serve a second term as president of the United States. The 2024 results stunned his detractors, delighted his supporters, and— as happened in 2016–confounded the media.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

When the call came earlier than predicted, many in the media seemed shellshocked.

CNN News anchor: Donald Trump has won the presidency for a second time.

Jon Stewart/Host, The Daily Show: My point is this: (expletive)

With Donald Trump decisively re-elected to a second term, we’re left asking once again, how did so many get it so wrong?

James Carville/Political Analyst: I would say take Harris over 270 electoral votes.

Sunny Hostin/Co-Host, The View: I think it’s gonna be a blowout actually I don’t think it’s gonna be a close race.

Michael Moore/Film Director: I feel the same way that I felt a few weeks ago, that Trump is toast.

An epidemic of media mistakes and misreporting stretches back to Donald Trump’s first run for president when the news transformed itself from reporters of information to influencers pushing their chosen narratives.

This time, the media grasped onto straws and pushed its agenda whenever it could. That meant giving outsized attention to an 11th hour poll that showed Harris ahead by three in Iowa, after Trump won the state in 2016 and 2020.

Ann Selzer/Pollster: No one including me would have thought that Iowa could go for Kamala Harris.

That poll turned out to be 17 points off. Trump won Iowa—by 14.

The media originally told America to stick with Biden— that he was never better—and warned Harris would be a weak replacement.

Joe Scarborough/MSNBC Host (March 6): This version of Biden, intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever.

But then there was Biden’s debate against Trump.

President Joe Biden: Dealing with, everything we have to do with, look, if, we finally beat Medicare.

The media changed its tune, got behind Harris, and said her future was assured.

Whoopi Goldberg/Co-host, The View: Welcome back the next president of the United States.

The news appeared to actively work to cover Harris’s weaknesses. 60 Minutes taking heat after she gave this bumbling answer in an interview

Bill Whitaker/60 Minutes Correspondent: Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.

Vice President Kamala Harris: Well Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that

In a controversial edit, 60 Minutes replaced that with a less rambling answer.

Vice President Kamala Harris: We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need.

The media and the celebrities it gave voice to, revived their playbook from 2016 and 2020.

Oprah Winfrey: If we don’t show up tomorrow, it is entirely possible that we will not have the opportunity to ever cast a ballot again.

They claimed Trump had once called Nazis “very fine people”— when he’d done the opposite.

Donald Trump (August 2017): As I said on — remember, Saturday — we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence.

Reporter: The neo-Nazis started this. They showed up in Charlottesville to protest —

Trump (August 2017): Excuse me, excuse me. They didn’t put themselves — and you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sidesYou had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.

The media highlighted ghosts from campaigns past.

Hillary Clinton even claimed it was Hitleresque for Trump to hold a rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Hillary Clinton/Former Secretary of State: Trump actually reenacting the Madison Square Garden rally in 1939 NeoNazis, fascists, in America were lining up to essentially pledge their support for the kind of government that they were seeing in Germany.

Minus the spin, it may have come down to something as simple as 70% of voters saying the country is going in the wrong direction— which may speak to poor health, government overreach, crime, illegal immigration, and men in women’s sports. But if the so-called legacy media hasn’t learned a lesson from the Trump years, it’s quite possible viewers have.

Sean Hannity/Fox News Host: What will this say Brit about legacy media in America? Its dead.

Brit Hume/Fox News Political Analyst: Well the decline of its influence has been evident for years, this is the proof of it. In some respects I think the behavior of the legacy media backfired against the candidate they were supporting. Because it was so over the top.

Now Trump enters a second term after having time to rethink his team and strategies, disentangle from the Covid disaster, and craft a new coalition that appears to be resulting in an historic realignment of politics.

With growing support among Blacks and Hispanics, the Trump Republican Party now looks more like a “big tent.” And Trump, for having sat out for four gap years, arguably stands to make a more enduring mark on America and American history.

Sharyl (on-camera): By the way— my election eve prediction was that Trump would win the electoral and popular vote by a comfortable margin.

Watch video here.