It is for Trump to lose rather than the Democrats to win

Vienna, October 29, 2026. For months, we’ve been watching the same play: fairy tales remain fairy tales, and no matter how lavishly staged, the audience eventually unmasks them for what they are. The story of the supposed “dealmaker” from New York was already false the very first time it floated through the media. Donald Trump left behind too much scorched earth in New York City as a businessman for that ever to be hidden. His relationship with half of humanity is not what women, men, and children dream of. And so, 2026 becomes the year when one truth breaks through the fog of fairy tales: lies have short legs.

Trump was sold by the U.S. mainstream media as the candidate with the best grasp of economics and deal making. His promise to break the hostage of inflation collapsed just as spectacularly as his swaggering performance in tariff “negotiations.” Unsurprisingly, both the Wall Street Journal and FOX have now—out of sheer necessity for their own balance sheets—started calling things by their real names: inflation cannot be denied, tariffs hurt the domestic economy more than they deliver short term gains, and above all, endless coverage of wars initiated or prolonged by Trump does not beam positive images into American living rooms.

And in elections, one rule still applies: the incumbent must win. Yet all data from continuous media analysis shows that the reality being conveyed no longer gives Trump the support he once—wrongly—counted on. Whoever, like the German Chancellor, allows too much media spotlight to shine on a single person should not be surprised when the team can no longer pull the chestnuts out of the fire.

At the same time, it is also true: the almost invisible Democrats will need, after next Tuesday, to work above all on their narrative. When they are reported on positively in the U.S. mainstream media, it is only about their polling numbers. On substance—what they truly intend to do differently from the Republicans—there is still far too little visibility. And correspondingly little approval.

For further information, please contact Roland Schatz at r.schatz@mediatenor.com