President Trump’s speech to Congress prompted the press to act like a parent rewarding a toddler for not throwing up at the dinner table. It set the bar rather low, as he reminded the world over the weekend.

It was just last Tuesday night that Van Jones of CNN cited one part of the speech and announced how Trump “became president of the United States in that moment, period.”

Until a few days later, when Trump badmouthed President Obama and offered no evidence for a charge that he was wiretapped during the campaign. (@realDonaldTrump) It appeared he was responding to implications in a Breitbart News story, which then prompted Breitbart to assert that we should all blame The New York Times. (Breitbart)

Yes, defending itself by saying it had merely aped that paragon of the evil mainstream media, The New York Times. Like Trump, it appears to crave validation by the same media it reflexively derides.

But put aside the wiretap-related tweets. My own personal favorite came at 7:10 a.m. Eastern Saturday from Mar-a-Lago, presumably during a commercial break in the weekend edition of “Fox & Friends.”

“Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me,” tweeted the newly “presidential” Donald Trump. “Sad end to great show.” (@realDonaldTrump)

So how does one square the Trump praised by pundits last week with the Maligner of Mar-a-Lago?

Says Joe Conason, editor of the National Memo, “Like most Americans, our colleagues wish that America had a ‘normal’ president. But he has reminded us more than once that he can mimic presidential demeanor. This is a dangerous illusion that we shouldn’t foist on the public.”

And, as put by Keith Olbermann to me Sunday: “From Chris Wallace to Van Jones, they provided insight that would last a lunchtime.”

An amazing saga continues

The New York Times disclosed, rather amazingly, “The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the tapping of Mr. Trump’s phones, senior American officials said on Sunday.”

CNN and The Washington Post were those who both quickly sought to cover the story and credited The Times. But one obvious question not quickly broached was this: What in the world is the difference between the FBI chief asking the Attorney General to call Trump claim B.S. and the FBI chief essentially going public and calling it B.S.?

An obvious long profile: “James Comey: Sober law enforcer gone haywire.” He screwed up the Hillary Clinton emails matter and now is way out front on this wiretap tale without quietly laboring to be part of a coherent Department of Justice position. As a Justice Department alum friend of mine says, Comey seems totally, completely self-absorbed.

Our wayward warriors

“The U.S. Department of Defense is investigating hundreds of Marines who used social media to solicit and share hundreds — possibly thousands — of naked photographs of women service members and veterans,” writes Thomas James Brennan, a former Marine sergeant-turned-journalist and a Purple Heart winner for the Center for Investigative Reporting. (Reveal)

As The Charlotte News & Observer reported, and his agent Stuart Krichevsky underscored, Brennan and family have received death threats. Through his agent comes this statement from Brennan:

“The story I reported is obviously a highly sensitive one, and it’s no surprise that there have been some negative responses and threats made. However, the focus here should not be on me or the threats to my family, but on making sure the stories of the victims of these behaviors come to light.”