Donald Trump may be sleep-deprived, but he still knows how to manipulate the news cycle. Since his return from his embarrassing and counterproductive overseas trip, Trump has been promoting his impending decision to further damage America’s reputation and long-term economic well-being by withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.
These “prenouncements” from Trump lure the media into a frenzy of prediction and pre-commentary that nicely fits Trump’s primary goal: moving media coverage in his direction. He grabs headlines over something he hasn’t done yet and crowds out news about the errors he and his Congress are already committing. As a bonus, he gets all the pundits to stream onto Fox News and other channels and talk about the impending policy so he can stick his finger into the TV wind. Instead of having to read long, boring policy briefings and listen to long, boring briefings from all the best people he said he would surround himself with in the White House, Trump can simply switch on the TV and get his talking points the same way he always has, picking out the tag lines that shout most clearly from the commercial-media squawkbox and cut through the haze of his addled attention.
Trump is TV become reverse-Ouroboros, a media dragon barfing out its own tail.