I have worked in political communications for the past eight years, but I have never seen a candidate manipulate the media and commandeer news cycles like Donald Trump. Since the day he announced his candidacy and claimed Mexico would pay for a wall, his penchant for saying provocative things has made him the main event of the 2016 presidential race.
No one can navigate the press and drive headlines the way Trump does. His ability to brand candidates with a simple phrase — as he did when he called Jeb Bush “low energy” — and captivate attention with his unorthodox dialogue has earned him both praise and scorn.
On multiple occasions Trump has demonstrated an unparalleled ability to escape potentially career-ending comments by changing the media narrative. His remark about Sen. John McCain, who spent several years in a prisoner of war camp during the Vietnam War, is emblematic. “I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said of the war hero in July. That comment would have ended most politicians’ careers, or at least their campaigns. But it didn’t seem to affect Trump at all.
The moment Trump is faced with a negative news cycle — including those prompted by his own gaffes — or pressed with a question he doesn’t want to answer, he says something that is so unorthodox that the media feel compelled to cover it. When he faced scrutiny over labeling some illegal immigrants as “rapists” and “drug dealers,” he doubled down and managed to make Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the staunchest conservatives in Congress, look weak on the issue. His remarks about building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border even prompted a response from Pope Francis.
This strategic approach has helped earn him $2 billion in free media coverage. And even when the Republican primary field consisted of 16 other candidates, Trump received 25 times more media attention than the group combined.
Donald Trump has demonstrated this strength several times over the past couple of weeks. At a time when Cruz was picking up steam and garnering positive headlines about his campaign’s organizational structure with victories in Wisconsin, Colorado and Wyoming, Trump changed the narrative.
First he began claiming that Sen. Ted Cruz, who once called Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar on the Senate floor, was a Trojan horse for the establishment. Then he started claiming that the nominating process is “rigged” and “100 percent” crooked. Trump’s posturing allowed him to suck up the oxygen from Cruz and command news cycles driven by the very question he wanted the media to ask: Is the system rigged?
Not only did this question get asked in print reports across the country and every cable news station, but by repeating it so often, Trump baited RNC Chairman Reince Priebus into defending the process, which bolstered Trump’s us-against-them posturing. It also solidified his outsider status with a Republican electorate that has demonstrated its hunger for an anti-establishment candidate. Further, raising the issue gives his campaign political cover if it continues to stumble and sends a warning to every RNC member and delegate that they better not change the rules of this year’s convention.
Perhaps Donald Trump does feel that the system is rigged. But his actions demonstrate that he is more than willing to play the delegate game. In just the past few weeks, Trump has hired experienced political aides Paul Manafort, Rick Wiley and top Republican attorney William McGinley. This new campaign team may bring a degree of professionalism to a campaign that has often lacked it.
In an extraordinary election cycle that has already been filled with twist and turns, no one knows who will win the Republican nomination. But one thing remains certain: Donald Trump will be pulling the strings of the media and driving the narrative.
Lisa Boothe is a contributing columnist for The Washington Examiner and president of High Noon Strategies.
