Trump puts out media messages not in order to inform the public and not even in order to deceive the Iranians, but to realize some kind of vision of himself as master of events that he’s clearly lost control of. And when you act with him like a co-author, you are acquiescing in a relationship that is not serving your customers and readers and viewers, but actively disserving them. The information coming out from this White House is intended systematically to mislead for Trump’s own psychological and political needs. Again, you have to talk to them; there’s no way to avoid it. What the president says is news. But when you’re dealing with a president lying to you again and again about such basic things as, There won’t be a cease-fire tomorrow; yes, there will be a cease-fire tomorrow, you have to say this is not like the way the tech press covers Apple. It’s not the way reporters cover city hall. It’s more like covering some kind of dishonest enterprise, something you must be systematically suspicious of, something where the people you’re dealing with are there not as sources, but as kind of misleaders. And while you can have many kind of relationships with them, I wouldn’t put on a tuxedo and break bread with them and dance with [them].

-David Frum