But although patently absurd, the incident is interesting as an example of how Trump manipulates false stories from unreliable sources. The entertainer has no hesitations about spreading blatant falsehoods—just take a look at his Politifact track record—but this case is interesting because it shows the symbiotic relationship between Trump and the National Enquirer.

It turns out that Trump is close friends with the immaculately named David Pecker, CEO of the National Enquirer. And the Enquirer has run a whole slate of stories that are awfully unflattering for Trump’s Republican rivals. The one that got the most attention—in part because Trump’s surrogates eagerly talked about it in the national media—was a claim that Ted Cruz had several mistresses. (Like the JFK story, that one appears to be entirely baseless.) But Slate rounded up a few more of the many stories the tabloid has run, from the vaguely truth-adjacent (a claim that Ben Carson left a sponge in a patient’s brain was traced to actual lawsuits, but an allegation in a lawsuit is far different from a claim being proven true) to the bogus (love children, hookers, etc.).

A cynic might even speculate that these stories were published simply so that Trump could bring them up on the stump. New York’s Gabriel Sherman did the cynics one better in October, reporting that in fact the stories had been placed in the rag by the Trump campaign. Sherman relied on anonymous sources; both the newspaper and the Trump campaign flatly denied the claim.

But as Trump knows better than anyone, the New York report was convincing simply because it seems very plausible. Would you believe that Trump is pals with the boss of a tabloid and is feeding him fake oppo on his rivals? Sure you would! Do you really care whether or not a reporter can prove it? Of course you don’t! New York is a reputable publication and the Enquirer is not, but the important thing in this particular case is that this report is truthy and fits your political priors.

Trump grasps that this is a moment in which, as Jill Lepore recently wrote, the notion of empirical truth is destabilized and under attack, and one in which trust in the media is at an all-time low. He also grasps the fundamental accuracy of the label “the media”: Each one is just a medium for him to get a message out. As I’ve noted before, his constant attacks on the media, performed for the benefit of his audiences of press-detesting citizens, are especially pernicious because they’re so cynical and hypocritical.

Trump doesn’t really hate the media. He loves the media. He’s been using it for decades to get across what he wants. As a businessman, he was more eager to reply to reporters and get on the phone than any other mogul of comparable worth, and as a presidential candidate he gives more interviews than any politician of comparable status. He’s happy to bash The New York Times when the paper runs a story that’s unflattering and happy to praise it when it’s favorable. It’s not personal—it’s strictly business. Or politics. Whatever.