For so many years the media picked “their favorite Republican” during the primaries, but then turned him into Satan McHitler during the general election. They loved McCain and Romney up until they ran against democrats. They’ll turn Trump into a slave owning Montgomery Burns.
It is quite obvious that Jeb and Rubio are the media’s favorites because they will be so easy to destroy. The media has already thrown everything they got at Trump and he threw it all back. In the meantime Cruz got some criticism but not nearly as much as he would if Trump were not there taking the flak.