On the third day after the presidential election in the United States, no candidate can yet be officially declared the winner. The count continues in some key states, such as Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania and North Carolina (Joe Biden is given the lead in the top four).
This did not prevent Donald Trump from claiming – on several occasions – his victory and denouncing fraudulent practices. The outgoing president attacks in particular the postal vote, stripped last and that he describes as illegal – it has been used massively by the Democratic electorate.
Controversial speeches with which a majority of the traditionally conservative media, and thus close to the Republicans, distance themselves. Like the conservative news channel Fox News, a reference source for Donald Trump since his election in 2016: traditional support for the 45e President of the United States, the channel finally adopts, in its treatment of the election, a cautious editorial line and takes care not to insist on its controversial demands.
Conservative media that remain cautious
The channel shares the new results live and has even aligned itself with projections by the Associated Press, which credits Joe Biden with the eleven Arizona voters, as the gap between the two candidates narrows. quickly in this state. This decision was however criticized by Sean Hannity, host of the political program on the channel and close to Donald Trump, who believes, on the air, that granting Arizona to Joe Biden was “Premature, according to all the people I spoke to, who are there and who know the numbers”.
Like Fox News, other media, calling themselves conservative, refuse to relay the president’s diatribes. If his accusations and statements appear on the website of the Washington Examiner, they are not promoted and treated as an ordinary topical issue. The magazine and the political news site also offer editorials, sometimes against the President of the United States. In an article titled “Trump Isn’t Challenging Election To Win It – But To Avoid Admitting Defeat,” Editor-in-Chief Philip Klein said: “We are not witnessing a successful coup attempt. We are witnessing someone who is too insecure and too weak to be able to admit with his head held high that he has lost. “
The National Review, also conservative, follows the same editorial line. The site has a battery of articles that explain how “Pennsylvania Democrats broke electoral rules” or who relay Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed victory. On the other hand, an article, in “one” of the site, explains that it is not uncommon for a candidate, in such a close battle, to post ” trust “ but that one “President of the United States should not declare himself a winner of a national election before the final results are known, nor claim that there was fraud without real proof”.
Other less objective editorial lines
But the most conservative Republican media have kept a committed, even partisan editorial line. As in particular Breitbart News, which headlined Friday morning: “Trump ready for war” (“Trump, ready for war”). Its former executive chairman, Steve Bannon, is a staunch supporter of Donald Trump. He even put his editorial career on hold, in 2016, to become the campaign manager of the outgoing president and then to be his advisor to the White House, before being repudiated in January 2018.
On the media’s site, the articles largely relay accusations of fraud. A topic ” Cheat-by-mail » (“Cheating by mail”), displayed in trends, even includes several articles supposed to demonstrate that voting by mail would lead to fraud. An affirmation, without verification, to which the outgoing president has resorted on several occasions throughout his campaign.
Another medium, The Federalist, go further than Breitbart News and sometimes even Donald Trump’s campaign teams. If the president’s allegations are relayed, the title also advances: “Yes, Democrats are trying to steal the election in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania”. Or, “Winner or loser, Trump will not go away” since he is “The most popular republican in the country”.
The website has been pinned multiple times for spreading false information, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. According to New York Times, the media’s Twitter account was even temporarily blocked, in March, after the sharing of an article which called for the voluntary infection of populations to achieve collective immunity.
Also note that these two media, ultraconservative, do not display the results in real time, as can Fox News where the Washington Examiner.
Our selection of articles on the presidential election in the United States
Find the campaign chronicles of our correspondent in Washington here.
On the election:
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