The mainstream media should practice a little benign neglect in their coverage of the Trump administration, suggested Daily Kos writer Kerry Eleveld in a Tuesday post. Eleveld wondered, “Why even send reporters to Trump press conferences?” and called President Trump “a totally repugnant human being” but conceded that he’s “a master manipulator” for whom pressers are “sheer sport…By continuing to engage in them, reporters are simply setting themselves up as targets on his terrain.”

Eleveld argued that “the two premises that help level the playing field for reporters” at a presidential press conference are “that facts matter, and...that serving the American people is primary to a president’s own self interests…Since neither of those two things hold true for Trump, press conferences will be rendered useless for the next four years…With a normal president, reporters wield shame and guilt as antidotes to an administration that isn’t making good on campaign pledges or doing good for the masses. But with a clear sociopath at the helm, leveling shame and guilt will be a little like taking fly swatters to the 800-pound gorilla in the room.”

In Eleveld’s view, there’d be no downside to the MSM’s absence from the pressers (bolding added):

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