Trump makes a blizzard of news, shows restraint at presser, even while slamming the media

I’m not thrilled that Donald Trump has renewed his attack on the "corrupt media."

Fresh off his $15-million victory over ABC and George Stephanopoulos, Trump yesterday sued the Des Moines Register and gold-standard pollster Ann Selzer over a bad survey. She projected him losing by 4 points, and he won the state by 13 points. He called this "brazen election interference."

Trump is also pursuing legal action against CBS for the "60 Minutes" blunder in substituting a crisper Kamala Harris response to a different question than was asked. But the network can argue that this was normal television editing.

Trump is unlikely to win those suits, but he doesn’t care. Just putting his perceived opponents through the ordeal and considerable expense of defending themselves is reward enough.

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Most legal experts say ABC could have won its suit, involving Stephanopoulos’ repeatedly saying Trump was found liable for "rape," as opposed to "sexual abuse," in the E. Jean Carroll suit, because of the malice standard for a public figure. Trump would have to prove the network knowingly showed reckless disregard for the truth. But ABC would have endured the embarrassment of turning over emails, texts and cell-phone records.

What surprised me, though, was that the president-elect shifted to attack mode just days after saying he had "tamed" the press and was getting better coverage. So much for the cease-fire.

But some of Trump’s more positive aspects were on display during the hourlong presser, a seriousness of purpose that I saw in our New York interview two weeks before the election.

I’ve known Donald Trump for more than three decades, interviewed him twice this year, and now that we’re done with the sometimes incendiary rhetoric of the campaign, he sounds different.

With apparently boundless energy at 78, he deliberately speaks a bit more slowly and softly, while moderating his positions on a number of divisive issues. He knows how to deflect questions he shouldn’t answer, such as "Will you retaliate against Iran." He threw in phrases like "maybe it was my fault," deflating any superhuman image. He recently admitted it would be hard to get grocery prices down.

The incoming president was asked whether Republican senators who oppose his nominees should be primaried. His response was carefully composed.

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"If they are unreasonable, I'll give you a different answer. An answer that you'll be shocked to hear. If they're unreasonable, if they're opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say it has nothing to do with me. I would say they probably would be primaried, but, if they're reasonable, fair, and really disagree with something or somebody, I could see that happening."

Of course it’s Trump who determines what’s reasonable or fair.

Asked about the parade of Silicon Valley executives who have come or are coming to Mar-a-Lago – the leaders of Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple and others – Trump noted they were "very hostile" in his first term ("and maybe that was my fault, but I don’t really think so"). It doesn’t hurt that Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos are kicking in a million bucks for his inauguration.

"One of the big differences" is that "everybody was fighting me" in the first term. Now, "everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know, my personality changed or something." That was tongue in cheek.

What was striking about the press conference was how much news Trump made on a wide range of subjects, some of which barely got mentioned. 

He weighed in on the bogus Duke rape accuser, who finally admitted that she lied back in 2006, saying life would never be the same for the lacrosse players who did nothing wrong. He talked about how the Biden team was not leveling with the public about the drones. He described the "sickness" of those who positively view the alleged murderer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. He backed the polio vaccine. He defended Pete Hegseth. He talked Venezuela and Syria and Turkey and North Korea and Bibi. He ruminated about TikTok. 

There was a sense of deja vu, a stark reminder of how Trump was a round-the-clock source of news in the first term, even when he was talking to reporters he disliked, sometimes denigrating them or counterpunching against their coverage. The contrast with the soon-to-be Former Guy, who made no news on the weekends that he usually spent in Delaware or at Camp David, could hardly be greater.

So beyond the full-throated attack on the media, long his favorite foil, the Incoming Guy actually showed restraint and nuance and was clearly enjoying himself.

Now maybe Trump has just been in a bad mood the last couple of days. After Judge Juan Merchan refused to toss out the hush money conviction on grounds that his private actions were not covered by the recent Supreme Court ruling on official acts, the incoming president yesterday posted this:

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"Merchan, who is far worse and even more corrupt than [Jack] Smith in his fight for my hopeless political opponents, just cannot let go of this charade. Is it because of his conflicts and relations that he keeps breaking the Law? This has to stop!... 

"In a completely illegal, psychotic order, the deeply conflicted, corrupt, biased, and incompetent Acting Justice Juan Merchan has completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court, and its Historic Decision on Immunity. But even without Immunity, this illegitimate case is nothing but a Rigged Hoax."

Now there’s the Donald we all came to know during the trial.