Tim O’Brien — author of TrumpNation, the Art of Being the Donald — told CNN’s “New Day” on Monday that to credit President Donald Trump with a coherent media strategy is to overestimate him. He’s really only using Twitter for “self-preservation or self-aggrandizement.”

Trump roiled Sunday’s media coverage by beginning the day with a tweet showing a violent attack on a figure labelled “CNN,” which led many observers to the conclusion that the president is calling for violence against journalists.

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On Monday morning, “New Day” said that Trump is utilizing social media as an effective distraction away from real issues like the Russia probe.

O’Brien — who said Trump tried to intimidate him during the TrumpNation writing process by lying about recording their interviews — told “New Day” that they’re giving Trump too much credit.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’s a strategic thinker,” O’Brien said. Trump has been doing this for decades, he said, stirring controversy when he wants to tweak media coverage in a different direction. “I don’t think it’s new for politicians to set up the media as a punching bag when they’re concerned about broader threats to their agenda.”

There are only two motivations that cause Trump to do anything, O’Brien said, “Either self-preservation or self-aggrandizement.”

He also said that Trump is probably genuinely afraid of what the Russia probe will reveal about his ties to Russia’s criminal underworld and the dubious provenance of his funding.

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