The New Hampshire Presidential Primary results are in: Bernie Sanders won the Democratic vote and Donald Trump won the Republican. In the United States the reaction ranged from standard reporting to this less than calm response from the Huffington Post.
The Huffington Post has been a Trump critic since the start, even assigning coverage of his candidacy to their entertainment section and at one point saying they would stop covering him all together. And if you thought that homepage image was strong, their main article had a similarly outraged title: A Racist, Sexist, Demagogue Just Won The New Hampshire Primary. And just in case anyone thought a reporter had gone rogue with this story, the editors added this helpful addition at the bottom of the piece:
Umm…tell us how you really feel. And it’s not like the HuffPo was alone in their extreme response. The New York City paper the Daily News took on Trump:
The @nydailynews is not amused with the people of New Hampshire https://t.co/61yesGFc83pic.twitter.com/cE4VVnigZT
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) February 10, 2016
And if you thought it was just the liberal-leaning media taking on Trump, conservative outlets were just as outraged (though not nearly as clever with the photo shop). One conservative outlet titled their piece about Bernie Sanders win in the Democratic Party Primary as “Red Dawn,” a reference to accusations that Bernie is not only socialist but also a communist.
And supporters of Bernie Sanders were no less emboldened, with many saying this Primary showed definitively that Bernie will win. Though hyperbole like this after each primary is not uncommon (for comparison look at the people “convinced” Marco Rubio would win the Republican nomination after his 3rd place showing in Iowa).
By comparison the world media reacted rather mutely. A (rather unscientific) scan of global front pages revealed only four international papers featuring the New Hampshire Primary on the front page:
The Vancouver METRO in US neighboring Canada
El MERCURIO in Chile
El COMERCIO in Peru
And EL TIEMPO in Colombia
Though notably, EL TIEMPO did refer to both winners as “Los Extremos,” so it’s not just the US media seeing the two as extremes within their parties.
This muted response might not seem unusual--it's just the US primary--but it seems subdued when compared to a MUCH larger response after the arguably less influential (and much more confusing) Iowa Caucuses covered extensively here.
And even the news outlets that had taken on Trump before like Germany’s Der Spiegel seemed muted in their response. Their twitter feed in German and in English shows pretty standard coverage and analysis, a far, far cry from their inflammatory cover article that appeared in both languages prior to the Iowa Caucuses.
"The autocrat," "world's most dangerous man," "insanity" -- @derspiegel previews what a Trump presidency could bring https://t.co/iMJmlZlyAV
— SPIEGEL English (@SPIEGEL_English) February 1, 2016
It may sound US-centric to be surprised by the muted international response but the impact the US President has on the world is immense. Looking at comments by candidates from both parties, including Democratic Bernie Sanders’ policies that could reshape a good portion of the global economy (that some say would be great while others are not so sure) and Republican Donald Trump’s harsh statements about Syrian refugees, the New Hampshire primary outcomes do matter for people around the world.
It will be a while before the US Presidential Primaries give us a more concrete sense of who the major political parties will nominate to lead the nation. That doesn't mean everyone should tune out. On the contrary, by paying attention now, the future President of the United States can be held accountable and influenced later on to be a positive global leader who can help deliver a world without extreme poverty.