Trump's Day Includes 4 Hours of TV, 12 Diet Cokes

He's up about 5:30am and back to bed about 11:30pm or later. And in between? Well, that's an "hour-by-hour battle for self-preservation," declares a headline in the New York Times on a story detailing President Trump's daily routine. It's a routine that usually includes four hours of television, though Trump doesn't like to acknowledge that, according to the story by Maggie Haberman, Glenn Thrush, and Peter Baker. (Thrush worked on it before his suspension.) Some of the nuggets:

• Key point: "For most of the year, people inside and outside Washington have been convinced that there is a strategy behind Mr. Trump’s actions. But there is seldom a plan apart from pre-emption, self-defense, obsession and impulse." Reporter Haberman tweeted that this was a "key graf."
• TV: "Trump spends at least four hours a day, and sometimes as much as twice that, in front of a television, sometimes with the volume muted." He usually flicks on Fox & Friends first thing and then checks out MSNBC's Morning Joe, which is usually critical, because it "fires him up for the day."

• Diet cokes: "Watching cable, he shares thoughts with anyone in the room, even the household staff he summons via a button for lunch or for one of the dozen Diet Cokes he consumes each day."
• Excalibur: "As he ends his first year in office, Mr. Trump is redefining what it means to be president. He sees the highest office in the land much as he did the night of his stunning victory over Hillary Clinton—as a prize he must fight to protect every waking moment, and Twitter is his Excalibur."
• Back to TV: "Before taking office, Mr. Trump told top aides to think of each presidential day as an episode in a television show in which he vanquishes rivals."

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