NYT: Trump Spends Half His Day Watching Cable News

The New York Times reports:

President Trump arrives in the Oval Office these days as late as noon, when he is usually in a sour mood after his morning marathon of television. He has been up in the White House master bedroom as early as 5 a.m. watching Fox News, then CNN, with a dollop of MSNBC thrown in for rage viewing. He makes calls with the TV on in the background, his routine since he first arrived at the White House.

But now there are differences. The president sees few allies no matter which channel he clicks. He is angry even with Fox, an old security blanket, for not portraying him as he would like to be seen. And he makes time to watch Cuomo’s briefings from New York, closely monitoring for a sporadic compliment or snipe. Trump ends the day with more TV and in his private dining room off the Oval Office, where he is joined by aides, and junk food including French fries and Diet Coke is readily available.

Read the full article. The Times notes that Trump doesn’t attend the task force meetings that precede his briefings, so he’s seeing the new data he reads for the first time.