Yet somehow the news media suffered even more disadvantage as trust in the information apparatus reached its lowest point in history. Only 31 percent of Americans have “a lot” or “somewhat” confidence in the industry’s ability to report news “fully, accurately and fairly.” Last week, Trump himself celebrated his role in creating that feeling, bragging to a crowd in Allentown, Pennsylvania that it was largely thanks to him.

America's trust in the media collapsed in 2016 during his first run for the White House, when Trump routinely promoted the idea that then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received more positive media coverage than he did. He also attacked the media in an attempt to undermine the industry's coverage of his countless scandals, including his criminal trials.

This year trust in the news dropped by eight percentage points – the highest in a single year since the measure was first recorded in 1976 – and fell below 40 percent for the first time in U.S. history. It was dragged down primarily by Republican respondents, whose trust in the media fell from 32 percent in 2015 to just 14 percent in 2016, while Democratic and registered independent respondents reported relatively small drops in their trust.