David Ignatius on Trump’s Strategy to ‘Distract the Conversation’ Away from Policy Failures: ‘He Wants To Be the Outrage Machine’

EXCERPT:

IGNATIUS: “The numbers are incredible. Trump, as we know, loves scandalizing the country. It’s perverse. But every time he’s being attacked for some — breaking some new norm, he’ll go out and find another one. I hate to say it, but I’ll bet he’s pleased we’re talking about this this morning about, about how outrageous is latest thing he did. Because he wants to be the outrage machine. Things are going badly for him. He feels cornered. He just had a pretty empty summit with Xi Jinping. He’s got a war he can’t win. And we’re talking about his — his branding ads with — taxpayer funded ads that are — that are political ads. He’s distracting the conversation that — that’s what he — what he does. It is interesting that Republicans who are, I think, increasingly frightened about the consequences for them are speaking out.”