Almost every conservative commentary outlet I visit has treated Fields's testimony as absolutely unquestionable, has pretended that the evidence has been unquestionably in support of her story since day 1, and has mocked anyone who says that she might have ulterior motives. They all have also acted as though the action was a sure disqualification of Donald Trump's campaign.
I think that they believe that this is where the finally can finish Trump off. They think that since Michelle Fields is a woman and a journalist that she has a free pass for her actions and her words should be unquestioned. (Because people have a desire to protect and trust women, while journalists are protected by the freedom of the press.) Therefore they believe that if Trump opposes her, the public will immediately turn against him, because turning against a female reporter would be unthinkable.
What they don't realize is that the public does not give much slack to women anymore. There are lingering traces of chivalry in society, but they have been greatly weakened by repeated calls to think of men and women as completely identical, as well as prominent stories covering false charges brought by women (most notably the Rolling Stone UVA imaginary rape story). On the other hand, reporters are given no special treatment. In fact, the position of journalist is despised by many people, to the point where any sympathy that Fields may have for being a woman is canceled off by her profession, and then some. A large part of Trump's popularity comes precisely from the fact that people are sick of the media, and are glad to support a candidate who is their number one enemy. So this attack isn't going to convince a single one of his supporters to abandon him.
The general public is not as anti-media, but they also haven't followed the story the whole way through. They are only starting to pay attention now that it has exploded, since almost every single opponent of Trump has jumped on board. Unfortunately, this comes at a time when the clearest video of the incident is this:
The reaction of most people to the video (as you can see through the comments) is "that's it?" Or maybe even "did anything violent happen in the first place?" It certainly isn't to develop a righteous indignation against Trump for condoning such "violence."
As such I predict that the net effect of this incident will be another increase in the popularity of Trump. Moreover, I predict a decrease in the popularity of people shamelessly pushing the narrative against Trump (such as Fox News), though this is likely to be temporary because people have short memories for public events.
Riots in the streets!! That racist!!
