Here are headlines from the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post this afternoon:
This is an example of how Donald Trump has hacked the media. On the one hand, he did say this, and he’s the president of the United States. You have to give it major play. On the other hand, it’s obvious claptrap that no one, including Trump himself, takes seriously. He said it just to make sure he remained the center of attention.
So what is the press supposed to do? Rein in their headlines based on their own judgment of whether Trump is just making a bid for attention? Print whatever he says because, hey, he’s the president of the United States? Something in between?
As near as I can tell, today’s NATO summit basically went fine. On a purely operational basis, everyone agreed to the various initiatives they’ve been working on, and everyone signed the usual communique at the end, including the United States. At a working level, there were no hiccups. Literally the only thing that made it any different from any other NATO meeting was the fact that Donald Trump took advantage of the massive press presence to get off a few zingers that shocked all the normies.
But you can’t really report it that way, can you?
