Trump follows familiar playbook after a loss: Distract and digress

During Mr. Trump’s 50 minutes of discursive remarks, which were ostensibly to announce a national emergency to build a wall along the southern border, the president appeared to be taking that challenge himself.

Forced to confront arguably the biggest surrender of his presidency, Mr. Trump did what he often does after a loss: respond with distraction, digression and entertainment, through a fog of words.

There was no teleprompter. He hardly looked at his notes. There was just Mr. Trump, dressed in a dark overcoat and bright blue tie, free-associating in tweetable sound bites, and setting off the furious clicks of cameras every time he gesticulated with his arms.