Ron Brownstein: “Across an array of domestic and foreign challenges, Trump’s go-to move has become to create what amounts to a political hostage situation. He’s either terminating, or threatening to terminate, a series of domestic and international policies adopted by earlier administrations — and insisting that others grant him concessions to change his mind.”

Washington Post: “Most days bring another round, often at dawn, like plot points in a 24-7 miniseries. In just the past few weeks, Trump has started, without any clear provocation, fights with football players who kneel during the national anthem, departments stores that declare ‘happy holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas,’ and late-night television hosts for their ‘unfunny and repetitive material.'”

“Then there are the individual targets: Clinton, of course, but also ‘Liddle’ Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, North Korea’s ‘Little Rocketman’ Kim Jong Un, ESPN anchor Jemele Hill, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), and a shifting array of reporters, newspapers and networks he labels as the ‘fake news.'”

“Although the targets often appear tangential, if not contradictory, to his governing priorities, both the president and his senior aides see them as central to his political strategy. In each instance, the combat allows Trump to underline for his core supporters the populist promise of his election: to challenge the power of political elites and those who have unfairly benefited from their ‘politically correct’ vision.”

Mike Allen: Trump’s alternative reality.

“President Trump convened his cabinet on Monday in the hopes of kick-starting his stalled domestic policy agenda and complained that Democrats in Congress are obstructing his efforts on tax reform, health care and the confirmation of judicial nominees,” the New York Times reports.

Said Trump: “The Democrats have terrible policy. They are very good at, really, obstruction.”

He also lashed out at “some Republicans” in the Senate, members he accused of refusing to go along with their party.

“Friends say President Trump has grown frustrated that his greatness is not widely understood, that his critics are fierce and on TV every morning, that his poll numbers are both low and ‘fake,’ and that his White House is caricatured as adrift,” Politico reports.

“So on Monday, the consummate salesman—who has spent his 71 years selling his business acumen, golf courses, sexual prowess, luxury properties, and above all, his last name—gave the Trump White House a Trump-sized dose of brand enhancement.”

“With both the Roosevelt Room and Rose Garden as backdrops, he mixed facts and mirage, praise and perfidy in two head-spinning, sometimes contradictory performances designed to convince supporters and detractors alike that everything’s terrific, moving ahead of schedule and getting even better. His opponents were cast as misguided, deluded or even unpatriotic.”