The reaction of partisan news media to the historic conviction of former President Donald J. Trump was swift.
Conservative websites and commentators strongly criticized the verdict, accusing the trial of being rigged and corrupt. They intensified their attacks on the prosecution and the judge, which they had been doing throughout the seven-week trial in Manhattan.
On the other hand, liberal outlets had mixed reactions to the verdict. While some mocked Mr. Trump for potentially losing his right to vote in the upcoming election, others found the verdict unsatisfying and irrelevant.
Here is how a selection of outlets covered the same verdict:
FROM THE RIGHT
The Daily Wire
The Daily Wire, a conservative site, was vocal in its disapproval of the verdict. One story by Ben Shapiro, the site’s founder and editor emeritus, had the headline “Trump Found Guilty. Pray for the Republic.” Mr. Shapiro expressed his disappointment in a podcast, calling it a terrible day for the country and claiming that the charges against Mr. Trump were weak and non-existent.
Despite the negative tone, Mr. Shapiro and his guest Michael Knowles believed that the verdict would benefit Mr. Trump in the upcoming election.
The Daily Wire’s columnist Matt Walsh even suggested that if Mr. Trump wins the 2024 election, he should use the presidency for retribution against high-ranking Democrat criminals.
FROM THE RIGHT
The National Review
The National Review, a conservative outlet critical of Mr. Trump, had a headline on their homepage stating, “Yes, It Was Rigged.” The editor in chief, Rich Lowry, claimed that every aspect of the trial was biased against Mr. Trump, accusing the judge and prosecution of aiming to harm his election chances.
In an editorial titled “The Horrendous Trump Verdict,” The National Review’s editors blamed the Manhattan district attorney for selective prosecution and accused him of targeting Mr. Trump unfairly.
They suggested that the prosecutor abused his office to damage an opposition presidential candidate ahead of a national election, making it a historic case of misconduct.
FROM THE LEFT
The New Republic
The liberal outlet The New Republic celebrated the verdict with articles mocking Mr. Trump’s day in court. They joked about his potential reliance on Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida to vote in the election, despite uncertainties about his eligibility due to imprisonment.
Another article on the site criticized the verdict for not addressing Mr. Trump’s worst misdeeds and highlighted his continued popularity in polls against President Biden.
Despite the conviction, the writer Alex Shephard believed that it would not significantly impact Mr. Trump’s support base, as many Americans have stood by him through previous scandals.
FROM THE LEFT
The Nation
The Nation, a left-leaning website, hailed Mr. Trump’s conviction in an essay titled “The Greatest Liar of All Time Gets a Criminal Conviction.” They referred to him as the disgraced former president.
In another essay on The Nation, the publisher and former editor Katrina vanden Heuvel discussed the importance of the upcoming election in relation to the verdict. She emphasized that if President Biden loses to Mr. Trump in November, the trial’s outcome would be insignificant.
She stated, “The verdicts in the cases will be irrelevant. If he is defeated, that verdict will do more to inform the future behavior of presidents than any of the court cases.”
