DONALD ON DONALD/MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A master media manipulator and storyteller, Mr. Trump went without a traditional press secretary during the presidential campaign, preferring to field queries on his own. Now he is increasingly taking command of his administration’s message making, and privately expressing frustration with a White House press office under siege amid leaks and infighting…
The president reached his limit as a media shut-in after a particularly tough week of headlines last month, when he decided he wanted to fight back himself, despite the objections of some advisers, at a hastily arranged news conference. The result was a 77-minute Trump tour de force that — while filled with presidential grievances and meandering complaints about media coverage — was at least viewed as a cathartic exercise for a frustrated commander in chief.”
– Maggie Haberman and Michael M. Grybaum, “Trump Moves to Become Master of His Own Messages,” The New York Times online, March 1, 2017