They Probably Don't Know
A Snapshot of Today's Ground News 'Blind Spots'
Introduction
When we see all the horrible things happening in America brought to us by the Trump regime, we often wonder to ourselves “how are his voters and supporters okay with this?” That may be the right question to ask about Trump supporters who do remain informed, know exactly what is happening, yet still give Trump their backing. But there are many conservative voters who are not necessarily supportive of all or any of the atrocities committed by Donald Trump and his cronies, even though they are also unlikely to speak out about them. Conservatives in this group face an unfortunately steep learning curve because the right-leaning media bubble to which they are drawn severely limits how much news they receive that is not aligned to Trump’s agenda. I share this observation not to enlighten the reader to a problem they don’t already understand, but to set the stage for this essay about news ‘blind spots[1]’, using a snapshot of three Ground News articles from Monday, November 3, 2025, which were retrieved between approximately 2:00pm and 4:00pm EST. This essay will list some of the headlines described as ‘blind spots’ by Ground News and describe how different media sources are covering those headlines.
Important Note: this essay is not intended to belittle conservatives of any flavor, nor it is an endorsement of Ground News, the ‘Vantage Plan’ to which I am subscribed, the blind spot analysis provided by Ground News, or any of the media sources cited within it. Rather, it is meant to be informative and relevant for those interested in media bias generally. Media bias exists across the political spectrum to be sure, and Ground News lists ‘blind spots’ for both the left and the right, though this essay focuses on the latter. Finally, Ground News is updated regularly, so the figures provided in this essay may be obsolete by the time it is published.
Today’s Headlines
“Trump said he knows ‘nothing’ about the crypto billionaire he pardoned”
· ‘Blind spot’ for the right, according to Ground News.
· 61% of media sources covering this topic lean left. 39% are centrist. 0% lean right.
· Of the 11 articles from left-leaning media sources, Ground News determined that six of those were of ‘high factuality’ or ‘very high factuality’.
· Of the seven articles from centrist media sources, Ground News determined that all of those were of ‘high factuality’ or ‘very high factuality’.
This story is about Donald Trump’s pardoning of a crypto billionaire Changpeng Zhao, who built the technology behind the USD1 stablecoin from World Liberty Financial. This has been a controversial subject on the left because of the appearance of impropriety on Trump’s part in pardoning someone who helped him launch his new stablecoin, which in turn, enriched Trump and his family. This story has received broad coverage among left-leaning media sources but is not generally covered by right-leaning sources. People who gravitate towards right-leaning media may therefore not know this happened or not fully understand the underlying circumstances for which Trump gave Zhao the pardon.
“Trump hosted ‘Great Gatsby’ Halloween party hours before SNAP funding lapsed”
· ‘Blind spot’ for the right, according to Ground News.
· 56% of media sources covering this topic lean left. 31% are centrist. 13% lean right.
· Of the nine articles from left-leaning media sources, Ground News determined that seven of those were of ‘high factuality’ or ‘very high factuality.’
· Of the five articles from centrist media sources, Ground News determined that two of those were of ‘high factuality’ or ‘very high factuality.’
· Of the two articles from right-leaning media sources, Ground News determined that neither of the sources were of ‘high factuality’ or ‘very high factuality.’
This story is about a decadent Halloween party at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort that took place while millions of Americans were on the cusp of losing SNAP benefits amid the government shutdown. This has been a controversial subject because of the obvious juxtaposition between the relatively comfortable life Trump enjoys and the highly financially-insecure lives led by many Americans – especially those who rely on SNAP. Right-leaning media’s coverage of the Halloween party is lacking probably for this very reason. Many Trump supporters rely on SNAP and are likely concerned about putting food on the table, so conservative media and their advertisers would rather avoid showing the president their target audience elected reveling with his wealthy friends and associates at his resort while the continuation of SNAP benefits is uncertain.
“Newsom says he saw nothing to suggest Biden couldn’t serve through 2029 in NBC interview”
· ‘Blind spot’ for the left, according to Ground News.
· 8% of media sources covering this topic lean left. 0% are centrist. 92% lean right.
· The one article from left-leaning media sources Ground News determined to be ‘high factuality’ or ‘very high factuality’ (NBC News, which conducted the interview with Newsom).
· There were no articles shown from centrist media sources.
· Of the 11 articles from right-leaning media sources, Ground news determined that one of those was either ‘high factuality’ or ‘very high factuality’.
Stories about Joe Biden’s ability to carry out Presidential duties have been making headlines for years. In this story, Governor Gavin Newsom explains the confidence he had in Joe Biden to have served a second term in office. This has been a controversial subject across the political spectrum but has enjoyed particularly broad coverage among right-leaning media sources. People who gravitate towards right-leaning media are more likely to be aware of Newsom’s recent comments, but the prevalence of this story over other events on the right is indicative of right-leaning media’s tendency to capitalize on rage-bait. Previously, right-wing media (and some left and centrist media) focused much of its coverage on Biden’s age and cognitive abilities, painting a picture of concern that either convinced their audience that Biden was not fit to serve or that aligned to their audience’s already-held beliefs. Given previous right-leaning media coverage of Biden’s health and their insinuations that the left was covering up Biden’s deteriorating mental state, this story draws their target audience in, helps them recall a past grievance, but it is also a moot point as Biden was not re-elected in 2024. Trump was.
Conclusion
As the title of this essay suggests, it is very likely that conservatives of all flavors – and specifically those who lean into right-leaning media coverage – are not fully aware of all the things happening in this country (it would be unfair not to acknowledge this lack of awareness also sometimes applies to progressives who strongly favor left-leaning media coverage, including from sources that are not high factuality). That does not excuse the ignorance, but we must not assume every single conservative, Republican, MAGA-voter, Trump sycophant, etc., are all celebrating what Trump is doing or somehow benefitting from it (many of these folks are almost certainly not celebrating; they are confused and probably very afraid).
So, how are Trump’s voters okay with this? It may be that they aren’t okay with this at all, but they simply don’t know it yet.
[1] ‘Blind spots’ are a proprietary feature of Ground News through which they analyze left, centrist, and right-leaning media outlet coverage of political and other news.