Article snippet: President Donald Trump’s latest tweets spread with the viral yet numbing familiarity that only comes when this president does such outrageous things with his preferred mode of communication. Trump deserves to be criticized for his latest petty, nasty and arguably sexist attack, aimed at MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski. It drew bipartisan condemnation, and a near-universal recognition that it does nothing to help advance the president’s agenda. But we’ve been here before. It’s happened often enough to recognize the pattern -- tweet, denounce, defend, repeat -- and to recognize this episode is highly unlikely to matter beyond the next news cycle or so. It doesn’t mean there’s an excuse for the president’s behavior, and it doesn’t mean he’s got a strategy in mind. But the White House response to the Trump barrage serves as a reminder that the perception of Trump as a counter-puncher is part of his appeal, and an image he cultivates to great effect. “I don't think that it's a surprise to anybody that he fights fire with fire,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders. There is, of course, the irony of first lady Melania Trump’s stated commitment to combating cyber-bullying. The only statement from the first lady’s office, though, restated her feeling that “when her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder.” Then there’s the matter that Trump is supposedly most focused on: passing the health care bill. It so happens that among t... Link to the full article to read more