Bait and Nominate

We can do the innuendo

We can dance and sing

When it's all said and done

We haven't told you a thing

We all know that crap is king

Give us dirty laundry

--Don Henley

Donald Trump's outrageous claims on Twitter and elsewhere constantly keep his adversaries in motion. Many absorb themselves in the president's rhetoric and spend much of their days crafting clever replies and put downs. They rationalize that Trump is unstable and maybe even downright crazy.

Crazy like a fox, maybe? What if Trump's social media remarks are meant, in many cases, to distract? Perhaps many of his off-the-wall comments are designed to bait enemies into looking one way while he acts elsewhere.

Case in point offered here in the WSJ editorial. The author argues that, while the media remains caught up in Trump's tweets, his administration is restocking the federal courts with dozens of constitutional textualists that bear little resemblance to their predecessors. Trump has nominated more that 60 judges and has already filled more vacancies than Barack Obama did in his first year.

The author suggests that, while Trump keeps "baiting the media with shiny objects," he is remaking the judiciary with an extraordinary class of nominees that appear to be, as the editorial title reads, "Scalias All the Way Down."