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President Donald Trump — an avid viewer of cable news — insisted Wednesday morning that he is not watching television. He is too busy being president to worry about the evolving Russia scandal, which has now enveloped his son. Clearly, that is not true. Here is what Trump posted on Twitter, coincidentally, a few minutes after the Washington Post's Phillip Rucker was on MSNBC saying that Trump has been watching a lot of television lately:
The W.H. is functioning perfectly, focused on HealthCare, Tax Cuts/Reform & many other things. I have very little time for watching T.V.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2017
While Trump's staff could very well be focused on public policy, he certainly is not. As Rucker points out, Trump's schedule has been pretty empty these past few days. On Monday and Tuesday, his daily schedule was visibly thin, citing only one meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Defense Secretary James Mattis, and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
Trump hasn't even been getting his regular intelligence briefings, which are usually the first thing on his schedule. Based on the president's Twitter account, he is much more interested in what the media is saying about him. Eleven of his 16 Twitter posts since Monday morning were either related to the Russia scandal, or retweets of Fox News alerts. He also praised his son, Donald Trump Jr., for his appearance on Fox's Sean Hannity show:
My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2017
There is nothing on Trump's schedule, or in his Twitter posts, suggesting that he is working on health care, tax reform or anything at all.