@Finn dAbuzz,
You've laid that out quite thoroughly. Let me take up a couple of things:
First, the inaugural attendance issue comes up regularly (contrasting photos) as do contrasts of marches. It's a shallow but easy way for media to speak to the subject of what people are thinking. And, if done fairly, it makes sense because consensus is how we operate in groups and in democracy.
This time it had a much sharper edge because of Trump's own behaviors and statements prior to the event. He had bragged (consistently) about the size of crowds at his rallys, and he had bragged about the size of his victory, and he had bragged about the singular magnificence of his "movement". All of these were questionable claims at best and commonly just flat out lies. And all of this was compounded by so many other instances where he'd made positively maniacal claims about himself (you've seen them listed). Further, he had previously placed himself firmly in opposition to factual coverage/criticism by the press by describing them (not right wing press) as "horrible people", "totally dishonest", etc. So this was a conflict he made inevitable. And he just made it worse by his statements/behavior after wards.
You say some friends found this conflict and the criticism by the media disagreeable and made them sympathetic to Trump. Quite possible. That's Trump's game here as it was in the campaign. Read Jay Rosen's piece if you haven't already.
You seem to suggest that the press is behaving as it is in order to get Trump worked up and to respond emotionally. They don't have to go to that trouble. He'll do it on his own where his narcissism isn't not satiated. Clearly you get this. But you are also still buying into his framing that the press is the main culprit in this contest because of bias, I guess.
You speak about the honeymoon that Clinton would have had with media had she won. Relative to Trump, sure. But it would have been so had Jeb won, or Rubio, or some other candidates. This isn't a case of press bias. If so, no GOP president would ever have had that "grace period".
But this presidency is unprecedented in this precisely because Trump himself is so abnormal. As I've said before, the number of senior GOP/conservatives who have been fighting to stop Trump is unprecedented as well. That can't be ignored.
