For starters, NBC’s Chuck Todd provides us with a clue. On last Sunday’s episode of “Sunday Today,” he indicated that he hopes Trump will distract from the problems facing the Democratic Party in the upcoming midterm elections and referred to him as “the single greatest asset the Democratic Party has right now.”

During his conversation with host Willie Geist, Todd said:

“Trying to figure out what’s in Donald Trump’s head, right? That’s a scary place that none of us want to live rent free inside his head, though I think many of us do.”

Later in the discussion, Todd said:

“Without Donald Trump in the way, I think the Democratic Party’s problems would be a bit more in the spotlight, if you will.”

Todd also claimed the Democrats will have a better chance of winning elections next year, with Trump remaining a major figure on the right. He said:

“But Donald Trump, by dividing his party the way he’s done, look, it’ll be the singular reason why, if Terry McAuliffe wins in Virginia, in this political environment, he will have Donald Trump to thank. So Donald Trump is a huge asset right now to the Democratic Party and President Biden.”

In essence, media activists like Chuck Todd and others are hoping to use Trump to deflect from the many failures and foibles the left has been displaying in 2021. They seem to believe that Americans will forget about the Democrats’ ineptitude and radical policy ideas if the press focuses on Trump.

Secondly, the media recognizes that the former president is great for their ratings. Trump’s stint in the White House did wonders for activist news outlets. Plenty of so-called journalists came to prominence for criticizing Trump ad nauseum.

Now that Trump has been out of office, cable news ratings have taken a nosedive. In April, The Hill reported:

On average, 1.3 million household viewers were watching MSNBC in the last week of January, shortly after Biden took office. For the week ending April 25, that number was 868,000. At CNN, those figures went from 1.2 million to 749,000.

The fact of the matter is that the activist media needs Trump. Their relevancy depends on the former president being in the spotlight.

But this particular reality leads to the ultimate reason why the activist media wishes to have Trump run for president again in 2024. They believe the only way the Democrats could possibly keep the White House is if the former president runs again.

If Trump decides to take another shot at the White House, the media will have much to attack him with, since he already served one term. They can bring up policies they did not favor. They can use remarks he has made to gin up outrage. The media will use any baggage they can to remind the public of how bad the orange man really is.

A Trump candidacy will allow the media to energize the Democratic base as much as possible to ensure voters turn out to voting against him. Remember when Time Magazine published a piece detailing the vast activist media conspiracy to get Trump out of office? If Trump runs again, they will do the same, but on steroids.

On the other hand, if Trump does not run, the Republican nominee selected would make life a bit more difficult for the activist media. If it is someone like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, there would not be much ammo at the media’s disposal. Sure, they could complain about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but other than that, they would have bupkus.

Moreover, a non-Trump candidate would make it impossible for the press to distract from the many failures of the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress. This would mean the activist media would be forced to play defense more than offense. Their attacks would likely be forced and non-substantive.

Of course, this isn’t to say that Trump couldn’t still defeat the Democrats in 2024. In fact, with the way the Democrats are governing, Republicans could probably run Elmer Fudd and still win. However, a candidate who isn’t Trump seems slightly more likely to win the race.