JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
HTML
<!-- does not do the newline or unicode -->
<span id="insertJavascript"></span>
<!--does do the newline and unicode -->
<span id="insertJavascriptWithPre"></span>
<!-- but if i get the string from the HTML to begin with it doesn't work -->
<span id="htmlWithNewline">This is a string that has \n new lines in it\u0027s body</span>
<span id="insertJsHtmlWithNewline">This is a string that has \n new lines in it\u0027s body</span>
JavaScript
$(function(){
var string = "This is a string that has \n new lines in it\u0027s body";
//does not do the newline or unicode
document.getElementById("insertJavascript").innerHTML = string;
//does do the newline and unicode
document.getElementById("insertJavascriptWithPre").innerHTML = '<pre>' + string + '</pre>';
//but if i get the string from the HTML to begin with it doesn't work
var htmlString = document.getElementById("htmlWithNewline").innerHTML;
document.getElementById("insertJsHtmlWithNewline").innerHTML = '<pre>' + htmlString + '</pre>';
});