Donald Trump pretends he doesn't know full well why his competitors paying for airtime just could not compete with all the free advertising he's gotten from our media during a speech after his win in Florida this Tuesday. He's just amazed that all of those millions spent against him didn't work. It's a mystery people.

I knew the numbers had to be bad after watching one network after the other cover his press conferences and speeches, commercial free, day after day and week after week, but the numbers are even higher than I expected.

If this report is correct, Trump has apparently received $2 billion worth of free coverage from our corporate media: NY Times: Trump's "Mammoth Advantage In Free Media" Helps Him Win Primary After Primary:

A New York Times report highlighted that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's "mammoth advantage in free media" coverage over potentially "any candidate ever," may be part of the reason "he wins primary after primary with one of the smallest campaign budgets."

Trump has dominated the news cycle for months. A Media Matters report found that Fox News in particular has given Trump nearly $30 million in free airtime since the launch of his presidential bid. Broadcast news outlets have received criticism for Trump's "unprecedented" access via phone interviews.

The New York Times reported on March 15 that part of the reason Trump "wins primary after primary with one of the smallest campaign budgets" is that he "dominates" earned media -- which includes "news and commentary about his campaign on television, in newspapers and magazines, and on social media" -- giving him a "mammoth advantage" over other candidates. According to The Times' report, Trump far outpaces other presidential candidates in free media coverage, noting that in February "he earned as much media as [Ted] Cruz and [Hillary] Clinton combined":

Go read the rest for more of the details, but here's a chart from their post that sums things up nicely.