Updated

The media smart set fixates on creating a narrative that explains the big picture of events and offers gripping examples. In that spirit, then, here’s a narrative to help them understand President Trump’s recent burst of activity:

He’s serving notice that he, and not the media, sets the nation’s agenda. And that when journalists behave like opponents, he will treat them like opponents, punching back harder than they punch him.

That’s the meaning of the president’s epic press conference Thursday and his tour of the Boeing plant in South Carolina and Saturday’s rally in Florida. As Milton Friedman said in another context, everything else is detail.

The catalyst for Trump’s campaign-like barnstorming was that, after a rough week in which Democrats in Congress picked up the loony left’s impeachment mantle, the president’s team looked outgunned and outmaneuvered. The emerging media narrative was that the White House was in chaos, riven by infighting, leaks, an unhappy president and an unhappier first lady.

To continue reading Michael Goodwin's column in the New York Post, click here.