Donald Trump is a genius at branding people. I still think that his tweets about Joe and Mika are un-presidential and unhelpful. But I have to admit: From now on, whenever I see Joe and Mika’s faces, I will remember that they’re vain people who have had work done (or at least she has), and that the POTUS shares my view that the two of them say and do some pretty ridiculous things.

There’s also a notion making the rounds that President Trump may have created the controversy for strategic reasons.

…the President couldn’t care less about Mika’s face or ‘Morning Joe’s’ ratings. The sole motive behind the attack was to distract the media from reporting on the travel ban and ‘Kate’s Law’ passing the House. The ‘Muslim Ban,’ as the MSM has coined it, is the most controversial law Trump will likely put into effect during his Presidency.

As Joseph Curl, former Drudge Report editor and Daily Wire writer tweeted… “For those who don’t think Trump is the Master Tweeter, the travel ban is in place and everyone’s talking about — Mika and Joe. Well played.”

I get the point being made. But I don’t quite buy it.

I mean, so what if we talk about the President’s temporary travel ban on 6 countries where the citizens are unusually prone to terrorism – AND have unusually poor documentation (poor proof of identity)? Or if we talk about a new law that cracks down on criminals entering the U.S. illegally?

They’re both good things. Why not let the media talk about them? The more they’re talked about, or the more Antifa is out protesting them: the more Trump’s own stock goes up. He improves his brand among the Silent Majority.

The SCOTUS travel ban decision last week was especially cool. 9-0, baby! It wasn’t a perfect decision; but heck, they had to get Ruth Bader Ginsberg on board. And they did, thus slapping down some real nonsense from the lower courts.

So, my view is that Trump would have been better off letting the media focus on the travel decision, on Kate’s law, or even on Trumprussia – which is increasingly being recognized as Fake News (so that talking about it actually hurts Democrats now). No need for all this Twitter strategery.

As always, feel free to disagree or to express your thoughts, in the comments.

UPDATE: Overnight, Trump got his tweets on, including his re-tweeting a parody video of him punching down CNN. 🙂

UPDATE: CNN’s answer is… a high-brow form of whining to Mommy. In measured tones, they play the victim. Poor dears. There goes what was left of their glamour.

UPDATE: Scott Adams argues that it’s all a big trap for CNN. In particular, CNN must cover – that is, re-broadcast – the parody “CNN smackdown” video. It’s like forcing CNN to advertise their own position of weakness.