New Orleans       Combining a lack of impulse control with an addiction is a toxic formula.  Manifest all of that with narcissism, mixed it with power, and we have a situation.  Obviously, I’m talking Trump of course, but with a different twist that provides some relief for the American public and the world.

Here’s the deal.  Trump went crazy for no obvious reason about the news coverage he was getting in these days at the nadir of his presidency, when all of the news he watches is bad news for him:  Iran war, inflation, midterms, and on and on.  Rather than sucking it up and taking responsibility for the mess he has made and its consequences, with no impulse control and no buffers or filters from the sycophants in the White House, he barred CNN and several other news sources from the White House reporting pool. One of their reporters seems to have presisted in asking him when and if the Iran War would ever end.  It’s hard not to like that question and to desperately wish that Trump had an answer. What should have been easier to predict than whether the sun would come up in the morning was how quickly all of them filed into court with their lawyers arguing that Trump’s actions were an unconstitutional breach of freedom of the press and free speech guarantees.

Then to his surprise and our great relief, all of the major television networks, including Fox News, Trump’s special narcotic, acted in solidarity and said that they would not participate in the pool as long as this gang of three was excluded.  We were treated to seeing Trump shouting without a microphone at a ribbon cutting in New York City before the UN convocation.

It also means that Trump was not on television.  A prayer answered!  Who among us, pro or anti-Trump, has not wished the news would just take a break and not cover him, no matter how much he droned on?

The way the reporting pool is organized, different major outlets take turns handling the video and reporting for all in the rotation.  If they are all boycotting, the cameras are not running.  If Trump has an addiction, it’s watching himself on TV, often into the night, and, given the long list of state business, instead of paying attention in the classes that count.  In his imperial disregard for constitutional norms or the limits of his own power, this is an “own goal,” if you will, a self-inflected error.  Trump was even upset when he saw CNN at the United Nations and tried to claim that they shouldn’t have been there without caring that the UN’s decisions of the reporting pool are its own and not dictated by the White House.

Face it, he can’t live without TV coverage.  This will never end up in court.  He will cave within days, claim they have learned a lesson, when it will be a lesson he has bought for himself.  In the meantime, we will have some relief from his constant presence in the news, so let’s enjoy it while it lasts.