These developments have struggled to gain traction amid the many competing stories about Mr. Trump and his presidential transition, including Tuesday night’s release of unverified allegations against the president-elect.

Scandals need time and space to develop. When the news cycle is congested, potential scandals are deprived of attention, causing the media to move on to other stories and the political opposition to anticipate that any criticisms will probably have little effect.

Many observers suspect that Mr. Trump seeks to exploit this dynamic by distracting the press and the public with stunts like meeting with Kanye West after delaying a news conference on conflicts of interest or tweeting about Meryl Streep before hearings to consider his nominees on Capitol Hill. It’s impossible to determine his motivations, of course, but the effect is often to divert attention from less flattering issues.

On Wednesday, for instance, Mr. Trump’s long-delayed news conference on conflict of interest issues was scheduled on the same day as hearings for six nominees. (After Democrats accused Republicans of scheduling the hearings in part to exploit this dynamic and divert the news media’s attention, some were rescheduled.)

History shows that potential scandals can easily be crowded off the news agenda by other events. During the chaotic post-9/11 period, for instance, the focus on more important events kept Army Secretary Thomas White in office despite numerous questionable decisions. (The post-9/11 surge in news continued all the way through the invasion of Iraq in early 2003, helping to insulate George W. Bush from fallout over the collapse of the Enron corporation and other matters; Bush didn’t suffer a major scandal until Valerie Plame was outed as a C.I.A. officer that summer.)