Donald Trump’s Act Seems to Be Wearing Out Its Welcome
Though many of the mainstream outlets favored by the Republican establishment — most notably the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal — have always greeted Mr. Trump’s candidacy with a critical, if not disdainful eye, that discomfort has spread to the news media that speak to the populist base of the Republican Party, whose anger at Washington has helped fuel Mr. Trump’s rise. Fox News opinion commentators no longer go on breathlessly about Mr. Trump’s antics, and conservative talk-radio programs have moved on to fawn over Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
.. “What all the pro-Trump people don’t understand is that conservatives for the past 20 years have been preprogrammed to go beat Hillary Clinton, and if they perceive him as an obstacle to doing that, they’re going to move on,” he said.
.. But Mr. Beck’s interest in Mr. Trump appears to have cooled. He has had Mr. Carson, Mrs. Fiorina and Mr. Cruz on his nationally syndicated radio program, but said he no longer had any interest in “the circus” of hosting Mr. Trump.
.. Mr. Trump has tried to use being shunned in the news media to his advantage. But he may have hurt his chances of reaching his voter base when he instigated an on-again, off-again public feud with Fox News — the highest-rated cable TV channel in the country, which holds enormous sway over Republican primary voters — and its chairman and chief executive, Roger E. Ailes.
.. “If I were a betting man, I’d put money on Roger Ailes every time,” Mr. Beck said.
.. But, Mr. Ginsberg added, losing the conservative news media could have long-term ramifications for a Trump candidacy.
“Primary voters in states like Iowa or South Carolina or New Hampshire are going to get their cues from these outlets,” he said, “so Trump has really big issues he needs to look at here.”