In yet another savvy move that helps to explain his growing appeal, Donald Trump turned what was supposed to be a public humiliation handed to him by the left-wing nihilists at Gawker, into yet-another triumph against the media.

Monday Gawker got a hold of and published the billionaire businessman’s cell phone number.

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Thank you @gawker! Call me on my cellphone 917.756.8000 and listen to my campaign message. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2015

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By Tuesday, Trump had turned the voice mail on the cell phone into a “Make America Great” campaign commercial. Everyone who calls the number, thanks to Gawker’s free advertising, will hear a pro-Trump campaign spiel. Better still, the publicity this deft move created has resulted in the recorded ad receiving all kinds of free airtime on the cable networks. You can listen for yourself at 917-756-8000.

After watching the pro-Obama mainstream media coordinate to effectively put John McCain and Mitt Romney on defense throughout almost all of their respective presidential campaigns, Republican voters understand that if we are going to beat the Clinton Machine and the media in 2016, whoever we pick as our nominee will have to know how to dodge the media’s sucker-punches and fearlessly stay on offense.

In the face of more than a month of withering scorn and hate from the media, Trump has been everywhere hitting back, taking on all comers, ducking nobody, and turning Gawker into Wile E. Coyote.

The bottom line is that Trump is displaying something sorely lacking in the current Republican field: competence when it comes to handling a hostile, left-wing media.

Competence always translates into votes. The media knows this, which is why in 2012 and 2008 they created a dynamic that said, “Obama can do no wrong, and his Republican opponent can do nothing right.”

Without breaking the back of that media strategy, Hillary Clinton will be our next president, and right now only Trump is s showing that he can break the media’s back.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC