Five rules for covering Donald Trump in 2024

We’re just days into the first of Donald Trump’s criminal trials, the New York “hush money” case, and several of the worst media habits of the Trump era are already rematerializing.

There’s the general thirst of the legacy media, camped out in Manhattan for this historic occasion. There’s the “octobox” analysis and crowded panels on cable news, breaking down the action like it’s the NFL playoffs. There are the breathless live blogs documenting each side-eye Trump delivers, as audiences...