As a national paper of record, no one can credibly fault the Washington Post for following every move by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The developer-turned-politician appears constantly in the Post‘s pages and website—a Nexis search for Trump’s name for the current month through Monday turns up 1,931 results, for an average of nearly 92 articles per day.
It’s a little unfair to compare the Post‘s online volume of Trump stories to that in the dead-tree edition; its digital properties can keep that Trump content churning out around the clock, wherever he goes and whatever he does. But following a day on which Trump himself visits the Post‘s offices among several stops in DC, the print edition is as Trump-heavy as the website. Tuesday’s edition of the Post contained ten articles about Trump. That’s about 9 percent of the 112 stories, columns, letters, and briefs the Post ran today, and that figure actually goes up if you count the Dancing With the Stars recap on page C1, which opens with Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples.
Here, in order of pagination, is all the Trump that was fit to print, or just fit in print:
A1 (above fold): “Trump questions US role in world”
Philip Rucker and Robert Costa lead the Trump coverage with a straightforward writeup of Trump’s day in Washington, which included meetings with Republican Party elders at the Jones Day law firm, a sit-down with the Post’s editorial board, a stop at his upcoming Pennsylvania Avenue hotel, and a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
A1 (below fold): Trump worldview is a huge break from GOP line
Can Dan Balz‘s analysis credibly be called “The Take” on a day when there are so many more Trump takes to come in the pages that follow? “A Take” would be a more accurate header. Can we get Glenn Kessler on this?
A4: Presidential candidates promise they will stand by Israel
Trump doesn’t get overt headline play here, and he eventually has to share the narrative with the other candidates who addressed AIPAC, but he does get the first six paragraphs of Abby Phillip‘s and Jenna Johnson‘s recap.
A6: Elizabeth Warren unloads on Trump
The Democratic senator from Massachusetts attacked Trump yesterday on his strongest platform—Twitter—convincingly enough to earn the entire right-hand column. Trump, for his part, responded to Warren during his press conference at the Old Post Office, where he referred to her as “the Indian,” an apparent reference to her previous statements that she has Native American ancestry.
A15: “Trump’s immigration stance expected to help in Arizona, but hurt in Utah”
In the “Daily 202,” James Hohmann aggregates Trump’s chances in today’s primaries in Arizona and Utah. The process story gets kicked to the very last news page. Ouch!
A16: “The risks of a Trump presidency”
The Post‘s editorial board met with Trump on Monday and found that “the visit provided no reassurance regarding Mr. Trump’s fitness for the presidency.” But you’ve really got to read the transcript, which is available only online.
A17: “Trump doesn’t understand the First Amendment”
Columnist and editorial board member Ruth Marcus was particularly disturbed by Trump’s comments on libel laws and the lawsuit between Hulk Hogan and Gawker (which is actually a privacy case). The exchange, according to the transcript, also featured a moment in which Trump jabbed one of his allegedly stubby fingers in Marcus’s direction.
A17: “Clinton’s campaign should be careful with its Trump talk”
Former Bill Clinton adviser Carter Eskew says Hillary Clinton‘s campaign should tread carefully in its impending showdown against Trump and focus on the policy instead of the “pigsty.” Trump is good at insults! Clinton is good at substance! Egads! A house ad would have been juicier than this take.
A17: “Winning isn’t worth Trump”
Richard Cohen bemoans the fact that a growing number of Republican officials are resigning themselves to Trump’s ascendancy. Like most Richard Cohen columns, this can be ignored.
B1: Trump takes a commercial break
Trump’s stop at the Old Post Office, which his company is converting into a luxury hotel due to open this fall, garnered its own dominance of the front page of Metro, with Steve Hendrix recounting Trump’s press conference, which, as documented elsewhere, was barely about the hotel. Dan Zak‘s swell take on the hotel conference somehow didn’t make today’s paper.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
