FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver famously predicted all 50 states of the 2012 election — but when it came to forecasting Donald Trump’s chances, he was completely wrong.
He’s not the only one. Political pundits, newscasters and celebrities have doubted Trump since he announced his candidacy last June. They’ve called him everything from a “comical figure” to a “blowhard” and compared him at times to Hitler.
They’ve also badly underestimated the chances of the now de facto GOP nominee.
Here are 12 of the most regrettable remarks made by talking heads about the man for whom all bets should now be off.
Nate Silver
The FiveThirtyEight founder told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Trump has a “maybe about 5 percent” chance of winning the GOP nomination.
Jonathan Bernstein
Back in October, the Bloomberg columnist said, “Everything we know about how presidential nominations work says Trump isn’t going to be the nominee, or even come close.”
Ross Douthat
The New York Times columnist probably feels silly that he sent this tweet in September: “The entire commentariat is going to feel a little silly when Marco Rubio wins every Republican primary.”
Cent Uygur
The political team over at Young Turks isn’t fond of Trump, even imposing a ban on coverage early in his campaign. Back on Aug. 10, Uygur observed that Trump was only running for publicity to help build his name and put it on more buildings.
Harry Enten
Last summer, the FiveThirtyEight writer said, “Trump has a better chance of cameoing in another ‘Home Alone’ movie with Macaulay Culkin — or playing in the NBA Finals — than winning the Republican nomination.”
Sam Stein
Back on June 18, the Huffington Post senior politics editor went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to say, “No one is doubting his entertainment value or the fact that he can deliver a good line and the fact that he might have an impact on a debate stage. That’s not in doubt. But to say that makes him serious is ridiculous.”
Dana Milbank
In October, the Washington Post columnist promised to, literally, eat his words if Trump won the nomination. Milbank is making good on the promise, pledging to “eat an entire column, newsprint and ink.”
Stuart Stevens
The political consultant and former Mitt Romney strategist went on CNN last October to compare Trump to a “Division III [football team] with a really trash-talking coach who says he’s gonna take on and win the National Championship … even though he hasn’t won a game.” He continued: “I don’t think he’s going to be on the ballot by Feb. 1,.”
Bill Kristol
Weekly Standard’s founder and political analyst went on “Morning Joe” to say, “He can’t. He’s not going to win this thing” back on Oct. 22.
Rachel Maddow
The MSNBC host has mocked Trump for, well, basically everything. On the “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” last August, she said, “I can’t imagine that he actually wants to be president.”
Nate Cohn
In December, the New York Times columnist wrote that Trump “does not have broad appeal throughout the party; he is unacceptable to the party’s establishment; and there are reasons to believe that his high numbers may be driven by unsustainable factors.”
Jacob Weisberg
Slate’s boss said, as recently as Apr. 8, that Trump “is probably not going to be the Republican nominee after all.”
