Yesterday, the president’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said something eye-popping: “The president is focused on what Americans care about … not tabloid gossip, which the media seems to care so much about.”
Oh, the media, huh? Donald Trump has made his life off the tabloids. Does Mrs. Sanders know about his career in New York? His melding with the tabs there? His regular appearances on the Howard Stern show? Access Hollywood and all that?
How about his relationship with the National Enquirer? He touted them during his presidential campaign, saying they ought to win Pulitzers. He broadcast a story of theirs about Ted Cruz’s father — who, the Enquirer implied, was in on the JFK assassination. Trump said he had merely read it in “the newspaper.”
There seems to be little self-awareness in the White House — starting with the president himself.
On Tuesday, he said that the CEOs quitting his Manufacturing Council were “grandstanders.” This morning, he called Lindsey Graham “publicity-seeking.”
“Like being called ugly by a frog,” Bert Lance used to say, back in Carter days. (Or was it Jody Powell? Need to brush up on my Carterology …)