Trump's own medicine

The New York Times has done something unexpectedly smart in its coverage of the Orange Cheato. Instead of turning to the prestigious (and pretentious) big guns of Washington journalism, they gave the White House job to reporters seasoned by covering local New York City politics and scandal. The fit is a good one.

Glenn Thrush came up from public high school and college in Brooklyn via covering New York mayors for Newsday. He finds insight and the right tone in stories like this.

WASHINGTON — President Trump was determined to leave his mark on Washington quickly. Now the city is leaving its bruising mark on him, with the same astonishing swiftness that has been a hallmark of his lightning-strike political career.

Mr. Trump has worn out opponents, journalists, members of Congress, foreign leaders, his staff — and now himself — with a breakneck barrage of executive actions, policy proposals and reversals, taunts, boasts and drowsy-hour Twitter assaults, all meant to disrupt American politics as usual.

... Ten days of shocks, kicking off with Mr. Trump’s surprise ouster of James B. Comey on May 9 and continuing through the revelation on Friday that the president had called the F.B.I. chief a “nut job” in front of Russian officials, have left the West Wing reeling.

... What unnerves Mr. Trump and his staff the most is the eerily familiar tempo of these disclosures. It is as if some unseen adversary has copied Mr. Trump’s own velocity and ferocity in an attempt to destroy him, several people close to the president said. Sources are shuttling all kinds of information about Mr. Trump to reporters at a pace the White House cannot match.

... So far, Mr. Trump, who lives by a hammerhead shark’s swim-or-die credo, has shown no signs of slowing down.

I like the image of Washington combining without conscious conspiracy to burn the guy out. Can the various elements of the regular order keep throwing stuff at Trump from all directions? We small fry out in the boonies can certainly keep up our good work of resistance. Let's create more friction.