I think that can be explained by who Donald Trump is. He is financially independent, held no previous office, and already had a reputation of making baseless claims. Whereas most politicians are self preserving, Trump has nothing requiring preservation. The media continually and incorrectly predicting his campaigns demise, actually gave him credibility with his supporters, showing his resilience. It also hurt the media's credibility with his supporters because he was able to conflate the media's predictions as attacks, instead of being based on events that have precipitated previous campaigns ending.