Reporters like me who spend their days in Washington DC can always tell whether the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has mucked things up in a particularly spectacular way by taking a quick glance at the White House's driveway.

Over the 164 days that have passed since the White House Press Secretary stood behind the iconic lectern for a daily press briefing, the driveway immediately outside the West Wing has become one of the only places where reporters can reliably hope to put a question in the ear of the public servants responsible for carrying out the President's agenda.

This unfortunate fact has led the various television networks that are part of the White House press corps to establish what could plausibly be called a "briefing outpost" – a set of tripods with a music stand in place of a lectern, kept strategically between the West Wing and fixed camera positions where various administration officials will go to appear on television and defend the President's latest words or actions.

But on Thursday morning, those tripods stood empty, and a check with the TV network cameramen who are a constant presence in the James Brady Briefing Room revealed that not a single White House official had been booked for the networks' morning shows. Not on CNN, not on ABC, NBC, CBS, and not even on Fox News, home of the President's favorite morning show, Fox and Friends.

What could make President Trump's fiercest advocates go silent? What kept even an enthusiastic media gladiator like Kellyanne Conway – who last month defended his call for a quartet of Democratic Congresswomen to "go back" to the countries commonly associated with their ethnic backgrounds by asking this reporter about his own ethnicity – inside like a groundhog who'd seen her own shadow?

It's not like the President employed a rhetorical tool used by antisemites throughout history, right?

Oh, wait.

Before Donald Trump departed the White House for an event in Kentucky on Wednesday, he spoke to reporters, as he often does before boarding his helicopter on the South Lawn.

The day before, while speaking in the Oval Office with the president of Romania at his side, he said that American Jews who vote for Democrats show "either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."

One of his frequent defenders, Republican Jewish Committee Chairman Matt Brooks, told the Jewish Insider that "of course the president was not trafficking in dual loyalty and antisemitism" with the remark.

But I wasn't going to take Brooks' word for it. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I shouted a question over the helicopter engine's roar: "To whom are they being disloyal, sir?"

Trump seized his chance to clarify his remarks, but not in the way one would expect from a man who once was so incensed by a Hasidic Jewish reporter's question about a rise in antisemitic attacks that he told him, in essence, to sit down and shut up.

"In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you're being very disloyal to Jewish people and you're being very disloyal to Israel," said Trump, adding for good measure that "only weak people would say anything other than that."

Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Show all 30 1 /30 Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Members of the Proud Boys, a fascist group, jeer at anti-Trump protesters outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A supporter dressed as Uncle Sam poses at Uncle Sam Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A baby blimp rears its head amidst a group of anti-Trump protesters outside the president't campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam President Trump addresses supporters at the launch event of his 2020 election campaign in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Proud Boys have adopted Fred Perry polo shirts as their uniform and many members have the name of the group tattooed on their arms Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A line of police officers separate opposing groups of protesters outside the launch of President Trump's 2020 campaign launch Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A protester hits a Trump punching bag during a protest outside Trump's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Twin Trump supporters pose for a photo at the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A protester dressed as a caricature of Donald Trump stands outside the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AP Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A Trump supporter faces off against a protester outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A Proud Boy shouts across the police line at anti-Trump protesters outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A Trump supporter poses for a photo at the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A Proud Boy jeers at anti-Trump protesters who are separated from the president's supporters by a police line outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A man dressed as Uncle Sam poses at President Trump's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam An anti-Trump protester faces off against a supporter outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Members of the Proud Boys, a fascist group, jeer at anti-Trump protesters outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A child holds a 2020 US "dollar bill" that features Donald Trump's face at the president's 2020 campaign launch EPA Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Anti-Trump protesters rally outside the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Anti-Trump protesters rally outside the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Numerous baby Trump balloons are raised in protests outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A supporter wears a T-shirt depicting Trump as a hero at the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam President Trump addresses supporters at the launch event of his 2020 election campaign in the Amway Centre in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam An anti-Trump protester calls for the president to be impeached outside the launch event for his 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Supporters of Donald Trump face off against protesters outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AP Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A baby blimp rises behind a group of anti-Trump protesters outside the president's campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AP Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A supporter dressed as Uncle Sam poses at President Trump's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AP Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A member of the Proud Boys, a fascist group, holds a sign up outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida AFP/Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam A supporter bears a Trump flag at the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Reuters Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam Protesters hold baby Trump balloons in the rally outside of the president's 2020 campaign launch in Orlando, Florida Getty Trump 2020 launch: Fascist Proud Boys, baby blimps and Uncle Sam An anti-Trump protester holds a sign accusing the president of being a traitor Getty

On a normal day, I’d expect that White House officials would eagerly take to the airwaves in defence of the self-described "least racist person ever to serve in office."

But President Trump's answer yesterday might have clarified that, too.

When I'd first asked him who American Jews were being "disloyal" to by voting for Democrats, he began his response by rattling off the various policy decisions he'd made to ostensibly benefit Israel (or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's electoral chances).

"But American Jews are Americans, sir," I interjected, only to have Trump cut me off.

"Excuse me. Wait a minute. Wait a minute," he said before repeating one of his most frequent boasts: "No president has done what I've done."

For once, it was a true statement.