WASHINGTON — Donald Trump made his most outlandish statement yet Monday, when he called for a "complete shutdown" of Muslims coming to the United States.

It's just the latest in a number of controversial comment's Trump's made since announcing his presidential campaign in June, including attacking a war hero, mocking a disabled reporter and proliferating a widely debunked conspiracy theory that he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrate the 9/11 attacks.

Yet despite these events receiving widespread coverage, and often condemnation, in the mainstream media that in any other year would have been fatal to a politicians' hopes at the White House, Trump remains the front-runner for the GOP nomination.

Republican strategists and political commentators are perplexed by the phenomenon, but experts say not only has Trump's base been primed for years by GOP politicians and pundits to distrust the media, they likely don't even read the outlets fact-checking Trump's remarks — making their pushback on Trump's comments unlikely to have an impact on his support.

"You’re assuming those folks in that audience are reading news,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert in media and politics at the University of Pennsylvania. "But it’s more likely that they hear Trump argue that the politically correct media are indicting him unfairly than they have consumed anything that has fact checking in it at all.”

A 'reflex of disbelief'

The bombastic billionaire has built his brand on railing against the politically correct with statements that often raise eyebrows and bend the truth. It's made him a hero among a large segment of the Republican primary electorate, but has left the pragmatic side of the GOP terrified he could end their hopes of winning back the White House after eight years of Democratic control.

PolitiFact, a news organization that fact checks politicians, has not ranked any of the assertion's Trump has made since entering the race in June as true. In fact, only five of the 72 fact check's the organization has done on Trump's statements this election cycle were ranked "mostly true," with the rest ranging from half truths to "pants on fire" lies.

New information doesn't fix Donald Trump's 9/11 claim. It's still Pants on Fire! https://t.co/twJO75AjzV pic.twitter.com/z5nZ39Ulxd — PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) December 3, 2015

Some GOP strategists say Trump has been able to dodge these fact-checks by appealing to a swath of the electorate that has been primed by years of Republican attacks on the "liberal" media — which has in essence kicked the referee off the field at a time when a referee may be needed most.

That belief is backed up by a recent Gallup poll, which shows just 32 percent of Republicans trust the mass media, far less than the 55 percent of Democrats who say they trust the media, according to the survey.

“Trump supporters have been conditioned by a talk radio and an online environment driven by Trump-bart [Breitbart News] and other things that folks have built up this reflex of disbelief,” said Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist and Trump detractor. "They're deeply alienated, they don’t trust the government, they don’t trust their own party, and ... it’s become this nihilist self-defeating philosophy that they're going to burn it down no matter what."

"”http://mashable.com/2015/12/02/the-media-just-doesnt-know-what-to-do-with-donald-trump/#lJTcHL1F88qS”" is not a valid see-also reference

It hasn't stopped reporters, including Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, from increasing their pushback on Trump's assertions in recent weeks.

We need more journalists like @chucktodd: “Your words matter! Truthfulness matters! Fact-based stuff matters!” https://t.co/pCjB1HfUlF — Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) November 29, 2015

Still, Trump's polling average hit its highest point since he announced his campaign over the summer.

"The media’s been all over it, but the people who like Trump they don’t care," said former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who has criticized his party for moving too far to the right. "The more the media attacks him, the more they like him."

Will Trump hit a ceiling?

With the media seemingly unable to fact-check Trump to his demise, and with GOP donors and candidates reluctant to spend money on advertising to attempt to take Trump down, fearing the wrath of Trump and his backers, Republican strategists are growing increasingly worried that Trump could wind up as the GOP nominee.

"Whether it’s the media trying to fact check Trump, or whether it’s establishment Republican trying to figure out how to stop Trump, all that provides more oxygen for the Trump fire that burns in his supporters," said Matt Strawn, former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party.

But experts question whether Trump has hit his ceiling in the polls.

They say his 30 percent poll average leaves him at a level of support that makes him a front-runner in a 14-candidate field, but would require him to convince even more voters to head to his camp when the candidate pool winnows to two or three candidates when primary contests begin in February.

"I don’t think Trump has shown an ability to grow his vote dramatically," said Nathan Gonzales, a nonpartisan political handicapper whose publication, the Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, has predicted electoral outcomes for decades. "I think Trump could be in the final two, but it’s hard for me to envision him winning the nomination."