Obsession with the media endangers presidency
By Paul Waldman
February 20 at 1:15 PM
... We’ve never had a president who was this obsessed with the news media, and that obsession is going to continue to shape his presidency. Cable news in particular seems to be a far more important influence on Trump’s thinking than any intelligence briefing or government economic data. And that means we’d better get used to the chaos of Trump’s first month in office, because it’s going to last for four years.
Trump’s fixation on the media ... has characterized his entire adult life. Throughout his real estate career he crafted his own celebrity as the central pillar of his business strategy; becoming a reality TV star was the logical extension of that strategy ... Trump has .. been obsessed with his image .. to an almost pathological degree. His office in Trump Tower was plastered with framed magazine covers on which he appeared, and every day aides would deliver to his desk a printout of every news story that mentioned him. He often took news articles, marked them up with comments explaining where the story had been insufficiently flattering toward him, and mailed them to the offending reporter. He used to call up reporters and pretend to be his own spokesperson .. and extol his business acumen and success with the ladies ...
... cable, and Fox News in particular, is setting the president’s mental agenda. The problem is that while it’s critical for any president to remain focused and avoid distractions, cable news is all about distraction. With 24 hours a day of talking to fill, it shoots off in all directions. The only time it’s focused is during a crisis when everything else is put aside in favor of one story. So when Trump tunes in, he sees something and says, “Oh my god, look what’s happening in Sweden!” ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/02/20/how-trumps-obsession-with-the-media-endangers-his-presidency-and-all-of-us/?utm_term=.38d4ad38893f
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