Donald Trump's art of 'playing' with the media.

Donald Trump constantly seeks attention to maintain media coverage and even plays pranks on them.

Donald Trump greets a crowd gathered in the lobby of the New York Times building on November 22. Photo: Reuters

In just 24 hours this week, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has created a whirlwind of events that foreshadow the drama he is likely to bring to the White House.

On November 21, Trump summoned two dozen television executives and news anchors to his office to reprimand them for dishonesty. He suggested the British government appoint Brexit leader Nigel Farage as ambassador to the United States. He dropped his threat to prosecute Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, even though "lock her up" had been one of the most frequently chanted slogans of his campaign.

Then, on November 22, Trump met with the New York Times, a newspaper he had once ridiculed as "dying." The timing of the meeting was repeatedly changed. During the meeting, he softened his tone on climate change, left open the idea that his son-in-law could mediate peace in the Middle East, raised renewed doubts about the effectiveness of torturing terrorist suspects, criticized Republicans who had doubted him, and still did not clarify how or whether he would distance himself from his global business empire to avoid conflicts of interest.

Welcome to the world of Trump, a never-ending drama in which the actors move from one controversy to another with a flurry of Twitter posts and impulsive comments to the media, writes Philip Rucker, a Washington Post columnist.

This could become commonplace in Washington once the billionaire moves into the White House. "He's like a character from a novel," said Sam Nunberg, a former adviser to Trump. "Americans have never had a tycoon – a successful, famous businessman who understands tabloids and the media and profits from them," Nunberg said.

Sean Wilentz, a presidential historian at Princeton University, said that the "reality show-like upheaval" that Trump brought was remarkable and unprecedented. "Never before has a president-elect, let alone a president, generated so much drama as Trump," he said. "Five crises in one day – and more waves to come."

Over more than four decades in the business world, Trump has been a rule-breaker, unpredictable and somewhat cunning. He likes to recount his past as a rebellious schoolboy, and how he persuaded banks to retain control of his casino empire even after the company suffered a series of bankruptcies.

"Getting media attention is good," said lawyer Roy Cohn, who once advised Trump. Trump embraced that advice, providing reporters with a steady stream of stories about his flamboyant lifestyle, rebellious business practices, controversial stances, and other scandals. In 1990, when tabloids were relentlessly reporting on the breakdown of his first marriage, the billionaire said, "The show is Trump's, and it's sold out everywhere."

During his campaign, Trump didn't seem too bothered or embarrassed when the press exposed his contradictory views on issues like abortion or the Iraq War. "Who cares what I said 10 years ago?" he asked in a June interview with the Washington Post. "Nobody, except you," the billionaire replied.

Mr. Trump explained that when he speaks to crowds at rallies, he often doesn't look down at the audience but instead looks at the television cameras, checking to see if the red light on the cameras is on, meaning whether his words will be broadcast on television.

"I'm going to say something new to keep that red light on," Trump said – and if that contradicts what he's been saying for years or even weeks, it doesn't matter as much as keeping the red light on, Rucker remarked.

Hoax

Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed, pointed out earlier this year that Trump's Twitter account not only served as a loudspeaker broadcasting his voice directly to his followers (the billionaire had 13 million Twitter followers on election day), but it also provided a source of scripts for television news broadcasts. Trump would tweet new attacks early in the morning, and by the start of the workday, editors would turn it into the hottest news of the day, according to The Guardian.

According to a study by mediaQuant, Trump received free advertising, with media appearances valued at approximately $5.2 billion. In return, cable television channels also benefited from large viewership.

"I hope there will be an internal review at the news and cable television networks that have given Donald Trump the equivalent of billions of dollars in free advertising, yet have often downplayed his shocking statements."John Weaver, chief strategist for Trump's primary opponent, John Kasich, said."He has been underestimated by many media outlets."

On September 16th, as the Republican presidential nominee, Trump lured political reporters to a press conference by promising to issue a statement—widely interpreted as an apology—regarding his questioning of President Obama's birthplace.

This event took place at the post office on Pennsylvania Avenue, which Trump had recently renovated into a luxury hotel. After a 26-minute press conference, he finally addressed the main topic. He acknowledged that President Obama was born in the United States but then shifted the blame to Hillary Clinton, claiming she was the one who first started the rumor.

So, after nearly half an hour of free advertising, not only for his campaign but also for his new hotel, Trump issued a 30-second statement leveling accusations against his opponent. John King, a CNN journalist, lamented, "We've been tricked again."

Each stage of Trump's career has been marked by a tumultuous relationship with the media, from enthusiastic praise and astonishment at his success to news of scandals and career failures. Each chapter of Trump's life leads to the question of what he truly is like beneath the hype and self-promotion.

Even Trump himself has often said that he's perplexed by that question. He says he's simply a businessman and his goal is to win. The path to victory is to crush opponents, respond to "losers" who criticize him, and say what it takes to get him to his goal.Rucker wrote.

According to VNE