From a University of Alabama football game to the New York Veterans Day parade to a major economic speech to meetings with the president of Turkey, aides have sought to cast Trump as presidential, busily focused on his policy work and above the fray of the impeachment proceedings.

“I haven’t watched. I haven’t watched for one minute because I’ve been with the president, which is much more important, as far as I’m concerned,” Trump said at a joint news conference with Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday when asked for his reaction to two diplomats’ testimony kicking off the public impeachment hearings.

“I’d much rather focus on peace in the Middle East,” he later added…

“In theory, it is an effective strategy,” said Joe Lockhart, a White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton. “The one thing the president and president alone has is the Oval Office, the Rose Garden, the trappings of the presidency and Air Force One. Those things can be used effectively to show that, while everyone focuses on politics, he is focused on the country. The problem is the president keeps tweeting, so it is not working.”