The president and The New York Times

President Donald Trump frequently calls The New York Times a failing news media business with unprofessional reporters who create anonymous sources and print fake news.

So why did he invite Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman, reporters from the Times, to an almost hour-long “on the record” interview so that he could attempt to totally discredit Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, and former FBI Director James Comey, and threaten/bully Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III? Are we now to assume that the president has changed his mind and believes the Times is a legitimate news organization for him to use to get his message out to the public?

And, more importantly, if he really wants to vent his displeasure with the attorney general and the deputy attorney general, why doesn’t he choose to do that in private with them rather than through an independent news organization?

Obviously, when dealing with this president, we’ll never know the answers to these questions. He chooses to act upon his own instincts with no rhyme or reason or sense as to the best way to address any issue. And he certainly doesn’t ask any of his advisors or family members, as I suspect all of them were as surprised by the content of his “on the record” interview as the general public was.

This story was originally published August 10, 2017 at 3:59 PM with the headline "The president and The New York Times."