It has often been said that the media will tell you which candidate they fear the most by the level of over-the-top coverage they throw in their direction, and that has certainly proved to be true over the last several presidential election cycles with 2016 and 2020 being notable examples.

As RedState readers will recall, during the 2016 GOP presidential primary campaign season, the media operated on the mindset that Donald Trump was a sideshow, and would likely never make it past the primaries. As a result, some in the media, the Morning Joe cast of characters chief among them, coddled Trump, eagerly wallowing in the spectacle he presented to them, thinking he’d be off the radar soon so they could get to lecturing voters as to the dangers allegedly presented by whoever the eventual nominee would be.

When it became increasingly clear that that nominee would be Trump, those who had treated him with kid gloves did 180s and began presenting him as the greatest threat to mankind since, like, well ever, just as they have every Republican presidential nominee going back decades.

Since then, the media has taken readers and viewers on yoyo journeys, telling us during much of his presidency and during his 2020 reelection campaign that he was unfit for office. and then flip-flopping by letting us know once he was gone from the White House how much, in reality, they really needed him.

And now here we are as the 2024 GOP presidential primary campaign season is officially underway with Trump, Nikki Haley, and a few others having declared their candidacies, and the mainstream media are at it once again, this time playing games between Trump and someone who hasn’t yet formally declared – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Not even a year ago, we were getting a barrage of “DeSantis is even more horrible and dangerous than Trump!” stories from the usual corners, basically informing us that neither of them were fit for office but that DeSantis would be even worse or something because he in their view was like Trump “without the baggage.”

But in an all-too-predictable turn, some in the media are now picking sides in the DeSantis vs. Trump debate, and it shouldn’t shock too many people to know that the side they’ve picked is Trump’s, who we were reliably told for five or so years was the most disturbingly serious threat to the freedom of the press that we had ever seen:

They’re rooting so hard. https://t.co/b6t2dZdiHO

— John ‘pro-norms’ Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) April 19, 2023

On Wednesday, Joe, Mika, and the rest of the gang were cheerleading big time for Trump over the issue of Disney and how Trump defended Disney from DeSantis in various statements and how DeSantis has picked the wrong political hill to mount his flag on:

MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ even gushed over Donald Trump linking arms with Disney to attack “stupid” Ron DeSantis, adding DeSantis is attacking “America and…family values” for criticizing Disney and revoking their self-governing status. pic.twitter.com/NBR5hnGlHA

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 19, 2023

MSNBC’s Scarborough & Jonathan Lemire lay it on thick for Trump, praising him for his “blocking & tackling,” having “better people around him” than 2016 or 2020, & having a “successful” Tuesday of endorsements vs. knocking DeSantis as “temperamentally” unfit to be President pic.twitter.com/fslqpr6YO1

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 19, 2023

MSNBC and Aaron Rupar aren’t the only ones in the media flashing their “T” shirts. Politico also piled on DeSantis with a series of pieces this week, declaring in so many words that DeSantis was finished before he even gets started good and that at this point the nomination is Trump’s to lose, well before the remaining candidates announce and well before the first primary debate is held.

What’s going on here at this point is very similar to what we saw in 2016, but with a twist. Though there’s no grand conspiracy at play here, the media wants Trump to win the nomination because they again believe he’s unelectable in the general. But instead of demonizing him as per the norm, they’re portraying him as this savvy, astute politico who is outfoxing DeSantis every chance he gets, with the insinuation being that voters should begrudgingly respect his approach.

While reasonable people can agree or disagree with that assessment, the point to be made here is that they’re playing favorites now not because they like Trump but because they need him to win the nomination, and not just because they view him as unelectable, but because they’d love nothing more than to make the 2024 general election all about Trump and doom and gloom him just like they did in the general in 2016.

Nothing would be better for the Morning Joes of America and their standing among the cocktail circuit elite than to have Trump in the limelight for as long as possible, as that would give these people more opportunities to pretend, as they did for four years, that they have the moral high ground when it comes to all things Trump.

As was confirmed by the media/Dem-driven 2016 Trump/Russia collusion nonsense, they most certainly do not have any high ground. They are simply playing people here, and hoping they take the bait.

Regardless of where one stands now on the Trump/DeSantis debate, my advice to Republican voters and independent voters who tend to vote for Republicans is to simply ignore the mainstream press and talking heads to the extent they can and make judgments about candidates based on not just listening to them but researching their records and seeing what their accomplishments are. Because there are few things the media loves more than trying to manipulate the minds of impressionable voters ahead of elections.

After all they’ve done to earn voter distrust over the years, no one should give them the satisfaction of complying. Not now, not ever.

Related: Joy Behar Slips up With an Admission About Trump During Cringe Segment on ‘The View’