A New York Times deep dive into Donald Trump’s ‘Twitter Presidency’ reveals the Fox News shows he records and watches every morning that set his tiny Twitter fingers a-tingling.
From The Times:
Mr. Trump’s Twitter habit is most intense in the morning, when he is in the White House residence, watching Fox News, scrolling through his Twitter mentions and turning the social media platform into what one aide called the “ultimate weapon of mass dissemination.”
Of the attack tweets identified in the Times analysis, nearly half were sent between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., hours that Mr. Trump spends mostly without advisers present.
After waking early, Mr. Trump typically watches news shows recorded the previous night on his “Super TiVo,” several DVRs connected to a single remote. (The devices are set to record “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on Fox Business Network; “Hannity,” “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and “The Story With Martha MacCallum” on Fox News; and “Anderson Cooper 360” on CNN.)
He takes in those shows, and the “Fox & Friends” morning program, then flings out comments on his iPhone. Then he watches as his tweets reverberate on cable channels and news sites.
No Laura Ingraham???
Thank goodness Trump at least watches Anderson Cooper, but I would not be surprised if it wasn’t just to see what’s said about himself.
What’s not said here is that these mostly sycophantic TV shows have likely replaced most presidential intelligence briefings.
(Trump image by DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license)
I wouldn’t be too concerned about whether he receives his daily briefing, given that he isn’t doing the actual job of the President anyway. That work is done by Mike Pence, who only accepted this gig when he’d previously been a Ted Cruz supporter because of the terms that Trump’s kids were offering anyone who would take it – that the VP would get to set all the domestic policy and all the foreign policy. In other words, the VP would get to do all the actual work of the Presidency. When John Kasich was presented with this offer, he famously asked what the heck Trump would be doing. And was told “He’ll be out making America great again.”
Anyone who actually follows policy work in DC will tell you that the actual policy decisions in the White House since early 2017 have been handled pretty much by Mike Pence. Trump has given himself the easier task of just Tweeting and watching TV and finding other ways to occupy his time. Which is why I’ve referred to Trump by his actual position – that of being Pence’s childish spokesman. It’s true that Trump occasionally blunders into the middle of Pence’s work, as he has with the disastrous choices Rudy Giuliani conned him into making re Ukraine. But the vast majority of policy work and appointments go through Pence’s office. Which also means that even if we removed Trump from the figurehead position, there would be no change in the actual policies, as the same man would still be driving them.
If we wish to see real change at the White House, it will only come if people show up to vote next November.
