MARK HALPERIN: The real reason Trump keeps beating the media at its own game

There are galore reasons wherefore covering Donald Trump is the journalistic situation of a lifetime.

His temperament. His velocity. His volume. The sheer information that helium tin make 3 quality cycles earlier astir reporters person finished their archetypal cupful of coffee.

But determination is 1 mentation that is often overlooked, and it whitethorn beryllium the astir important of all: Donald Trump understands the concern of quality amended than immoderate modern president — better, successful galore cases, than the radical who enactment successful it.

That whitethorn dependable surprising. It shouldn’t.

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Trump did not turn up successful politically affable territory. Things were antithetic for him earlier helium entered the run satellite arsenic a Republican. As a businessman and past a world TV star, Trump luxuriated successful dishy and usually aggrandizing gossip items, including successful the august columns of New York Post fable Cindy Adams. His friendly, bantering relations with the property helped crook him into a larger-than-life figure.

But that each changed erstwhile helium joined the governmental fray. Like George W. Bush earlier him, Trump learned however the property truly works successful a hostile environment. He was ne'er granted automatic goodwill. He was seldom fixed the payment of the doubt. He had to survey the system, trial it, provoke it, and sometimes combat it conscionable to survive.

So helium learned.

And helium learned well.

Trump dainty the media it arsenic a rival, a foil, a signifier and a punching bag. He studies it similar a superb Ph.D. student. He probes it similar a boxer investigating defenses.

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Other caller presidents — Democrats Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden — operated successful a media clime that, portion not ever gentle, was structurally sympathetic. They were criticized, yes. But they were besides understood. Interpreted generously. Given time. Granted patience. Their mistakes were often softened by discourse and explanation.

Trump ne'er had that luxury.

President Donald Trump knows precisely wherever the media is fragile and vulnerable. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)

So agelong earlier helium descended the escalator successful 2015 — agelong earlier rallies, reddish hats and chants — helium was paying attention. Watching. Noticing patterns. Studying however stories were framed. Who was treated arsenic "serious." Who was treated arsenic "dangerous." Which narratives stuck. Which faded. Which sins were forgiven. Which were ne'er forgotten.

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And helium reached immoderate conclusions.

He saw, first, a taste bias — not needfully successful each nonfiction oregon each reporter, but successful the aerial newsrooms breathe. In assumptions astir what is mean and what is radical. In who is presumed tenable and who is presumed reckless. Conservatives, helium concluded, were playing uphill — and tens of millions of Americans knew it. It made them angry.

He saw, second, elitism: newsrooms clustered successful a fistful of coastal cities; journalists with akin educations, akin friends and akin politics. The property spoke endlessly astir "ordinary Americans" portion increasing much distant from them each year. It struggled to grasp wherefore amerciable migration disquieted truthful galore families oregon wherefore commercialized deals felt similar idiosyncratic losses successful mill towns.

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He saw, third, a breached concern model: newspapers and networks that missed the integer revolution; revenues shrinking; newsrooms shrinking; panic mounting in. A fewer outlets recovered lifelines. Most did not. Layoffs became routine. Survival became uncertain.

And from these 3 problems flowed the fourth: collapsing trust.

When audiences spot bias, region and desperation, assurance erodes. And erstwhile credibility is gone, it is astir intolerable to restore.

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Here is the large irony:

When Trump began attacking the media for these flaws, helium did not hole them. He intensified them.

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His disapproval enactment quality organizations connected the defensive. They closed ranks. They hardened. They became much ideological, much insular, much brittle. Every onslaught convinced them they indispensable beryllium doing thing right. Often, it meant the opposite.

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Trump, meanwhile, turned his feud with the property into a imperishable governmental weapon.

Before him, Republicans sometimes complained astir coverage. But Trump transformed grievance into theater. He did not simply quality stories. He made the media itself a quality successful his play — the villain, ever lurking, ever scheming.

With humor. With ridicule. With exaggeration. With showmanship.

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And it worked.

It inactive works.

This was ne'er accidental.

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Behind the scenes, Trump and his advisers learned the incentives of modern journalism. They cognize which outlets crave clicks. Which reporters thrive connected conflict. Which controversies dispersed fastest. Which phrases go headlines. Which outrages question farthest.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters earlier departing from the White House successful Washington, D.C., connected February 6, 2026.  (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)

They recognize the machinery.

They cognize however to trigger it. How to flood it. How to redirect it. How to exhaust it.

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They cognize that outrage is oxygen. That struggle is currency. That attraction is power.

And they cognize their supporters emotion watching it each unfold.

Criticism becomes impervious of persecution. Coverage becomes confirmation of importance. Attacks go fuel.

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Knowledge, successful politics, is power. And Trump’s cognition of the media has fixed him powerfulness — implicit the property and implicit his ain movement.

He plays the strategy arsenic it exists, not arsenic journalists privation it were.

President Donald Trump and archetypal woman Melania Trump get for the premiere of "Melania" astatine The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, successful Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

He understands that modern quality is portion information, portion entertainment, portion combat sport. He understands that narratives substance much than footnotes. That emotion beats nuance. That velocity beats reflection.

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So helium moves fast. He moves loud. He moves relentlessly.

For reporters and quality organizations, this is the existent challenge:

Not simply covering what Trump says and does — but covering idiosyncratic who understands their industry’s financial, taste and intelligence vulnerabilities and presses connected them constantly.

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Every weakness becomes leverage. Every wont becomes a unit point.

Trump is not conscionable moving against and competing against Democrats.

He is moving against and competing against the media.

President Donald Trump during an announcement successful the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building astatine the White House successful Washington, D.C., connected Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.  (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

He treats it arsenic a rival, a foil, a signifier and a punching bag. He studies it similar a superb Ph.D. student. He probes it similar a boxer investigating defenses.

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And helium knows precisely wherever it is fragile and vulnerable.

In an property erstwhile spot is scarce and attraction is priceless, that cognition whitethorn beryllium his top governmental asset.

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Better than immoderate president successful modern past — possibly amended than astir anyone successful nationalist beingness contiguous — Donald Trump understands however the quality concern truly works.

And helium knows however to usage that knowing to his advantage.

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