The mainstream media don’t want Trump to win, and don’t want to provide him free media coverage, unless it is negative. I believe we can agree to take this assessment as a given.
Trump and his handlers are absolute wizards at dreaming up what one pundit called “cosplay stunts” that are so eye-catching the mainstream media virtually have to cover them. I have in mind both the McDonalds visit with him in an apron passing food out the drive-in window, and his more recent drive of a new, shiny garbage truck, wearing an orange vest.
This is P.R. genius at work. And unlike Michael Dukakis in the tank or Tim Walz with the shotgun, Trump has the chutspah to pull it off and make it work for him. His time in TV taught him what works and what doesn’t.
One of my favorite Donald Trump stories is of him decades ago sitting in the green room after a TV interview watching the replay with the sound off, studying what worked for him and what didn’t. In some ways he’s been studying for this role most of his life.
