His impressive mass rallies in 2016 and 2020 also drew media, which every politician requires to carry his or her message to the more important millions beyond the immediate audience. These events are, in fact, staged more to impress the absent audiences with their fervor and size.

Trump rally crowd members will tell you voluntarily how impressive it is to be there in those moments with thousands of fervent, like-minded followers in the presence of their leader, always in the dark suit and red tie.

Even if they are among those placed behind Trump with signs to wave for the cameras as living TV props.

You may remember the closing days of the 2020 campaign when Joe Biden was hiding in the basement because of his ominous warning signs. And calling it a day by 10:30 a.m.

While the indefatigable Trump, only four years younger, was speaking at three or four huge rallies in several states as the media magnet he was.

But things have changed this time. Immense rallies allow him to collect large volumes of cell numbers for fundraising. But they are very expensive. And Trump needs millions of dollars to feed his lawyers.

Media, which loves to hate the man who brings them so much business success, is tired of rallies with Trump spewing the same old story about a stolen election. 

The key part of the word “news” is new.

Few outlets, save for C-SPAN, that reliable national treasure, regularly carry these shows live anymore. That free media exposure in 2015-16, estimated in excess of $2 billion, was the vital lifeblood that got the political rookie into the White House.

So, what is Trump to do now? 

How can he draw the free media attention that he so craves? And the media attention that his campaign requires for fundraising and to keep him in the spotlight to distract from the subversive lawfare that frustrated Democrats are waging with multiple trials — both criminal and civil. 

Because clearly, Democrats and assorted Republican opponents have proven consistently incapable of crushing the populist idea of Donald Trump and his deplorables any other way. Not through hoaxes. Not through impeachments. Not through Deep State leaks of dubious veracity. And not through alleged tell-all books that sold poorly.

Trump’s M.O. is always transactional. No deeply-held beliefs to get in the way of the next deal.

What the former president appears to have decided on now as his path to attention is to say shocking things, ridiculous things, even stupid things, as the astute Byron York has noted.

Earlier this month, Trump threatened NATO countries behind in their promised military expenditures that as president, he would “encourage (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want” to them. “You got to pay.”

Trump’s threats in his first term did, in fact, prompt several delinquent NATO members to boost defense spending closer to the alliance’s minimum two percent of GDP. Some even exceed it. Many members were lulled into inaction after the Soviet threat collapsed in 1991.

My colleague streiff covered Germany achieving the minimum after decades behind. France gets there this year. Since Trump’s complaints seven years ago, the number of nations in compliance has jumped from 11 to 18. That's major progress.

Trump could be a leader, praise this, and encourage the others to follow suit while accurately claiming credit to himself for driving complacent members to ante-up and strengthen the most important security bulwark against Russian expansion. 

It’s disappointing that instead, he’s still dramatically complaining and threatening, which shows for now, he’s just striving for campaign news coverage.

Under Article 5 of the 75-year-old alliance, an attack on any of the 31 members is considered an attack on all. That threat proved an effective deterrent throughout the Cold War. 

Article 5 has only been used once: To the benefit of the U.S.

When America was attacked on 9/11, all NATO allies rallied to join the struggle against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Trump’s crowd in South Carolina, which has its GOP primary Saturday, enjoyed the entertainment. And his outrageous promise provoked predictable matching Democrat outrage, as well as concern among allies.

Being unpredictable in diplomacy versus adversaries can be useful. It calmed North Korea’s dictator and prompted Vladimir Putin to pause his territorial conquests until Joe Biden entered office.

But the foundation of any military alliance is the certainty of massive retaliation. Playing with that certainty for political gain is very dangerous.

True, Trump previously made big, dramatic promises to build a wall along the entire southern border (he didn’t) and to make Mexico pay for it (he didn’t). This time voters may want to know which promises are genuine and which are show biz.

But Trump’s recent rhetoric does two things: It vaults him into the main news flow again, always key to him. And it provides his pack of supporters with uttter delight watching the left and media act out their predictable hysteria.

I admit to a perverse, passing pleasure hearing about Morning Mika, "The View" shrews, and MSNBC's political squads experiencing uncontrolled conniptions over Trump, even if it's just performance art for ratings. 

But that’s entertainment, not governing.

What Trump’s new strategy does not do is advance the cause of his renewed presidency, attract new supporters from the middle or independents, or build confidence that a second Trump term would even improve upon the first. 

Trump's supporters are many and fervent, ardent, and point to his numerous policy achievements. My favorite was energy independence. All true. But these folks are nowhere near enough to win this year, even against Mr. Magoo and Ms. Giggles. 

The former president needs to broaden his appeal to become the next president. Otherwise, the campaign just becomes an exercise in ego gratification. 

Shunning show-biz gimmicks to demonstrate serious presidential leadership on European security and NATO issues would help him rise above his current legal entanglements that media portrays as tawdry.

I desperately hope he does. He'd cruise to victory and save us from what would likely be a Harris-Biden administration. Can you imagine?

Trump has committed these mistakes before. He was easily the most media-accessible president in a long time, sometimes three, four, or five times in a day when he felt the urge.

He didn’t care that those statements or outbursts often completely derailed his own administration’s policy message plans for that week. Trump felt the need to punch back at someone or something. That’s always been his style. He was rich, which proved he was right.

So, Trump did punch back, even if that chronic lack of discipline created among many Americans an ongoing sense of unorganized unease and unpresidential turmoil that too many voters remembered when the alternative was what appeared to be a sleepy but familiar Joe Biden back then.

Things are different this time. This time, it’s Joe Biden with the immediate record of concern. The signs were there in 2019-20. But now he has clearly deteriorated mentally and physically right before our worried eyes. 

Special Prosecutor Robert Hur documented the same concerns in his recent report. In fact, a dimmed Biden was the reason Hur did not press charges.

Then, Biden’s unwise public reaction and denials only proved Hur’s points.

The poor guy is lost. He reminds virtually everyone of an elderly relative clearly drifting away mentally toward their end. Except this elderly person possesses the nuclear launch codes.

At almost every public appearance now, a shuffling Biden does or says something concerning, incomprehensible. He talks about meeting famous people after they were dead. He stumbles reading the notes right before his eyes. 

Those eyes go glazed for long seconds, and he abandons whatever he was about to say with a now trademark phrase that should go on his gravestone someday: “Anyway.”

If Joe Biden were my Dad, I would never permit this sort of elder abuse, even if my family was reaping millions from dark foreign sources.

Now, an overwhelming majority of Americans say the 81-year-old Biden is too old for another term (86 percent, up 12 points since September). They say the same thing about the 77-year-old Trump, only by a smaller margin (62 percent).

Here’s a stunning fact the president’s worried handlers would rather you not know: Joe Biden’s 1942 birthday is closer to Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 inauguration than it is to Joe Biden’s own inauguration. That's how old he is.

At this moment, as I wrote here recently, Americans are stuck with no political alternatives and two major candidates, each with a major problem that cannot be fixed.

Led by these two men, too many voters have arrayed themselves into competing, combative political packs, stubbornly uninterested in compromise or even listening to the other side. Political combat does get you in the news, though little gets done.

True, election campaigns are all about creating Us and Them camps. The difference today is these groups do not dissolve back into one cohesive, congenial nation after a divisive campaign.

Georgia’s GOP Gov. Brian Kemp noted this last week:

There’s been a lot of frustration out there amongst the American people of politicians trying to destroy the other side versus telling people why you should vote for us….

Our party and our leaders and people running for president, we’ve got to tell people what we’re for. We’ve got to stay focused on the future.