POLITICO: BEING AN ATTENTION JUNKIE IS TRUMP'S SUPERPOWER

The toddler president of the United States can't bear the thought that Democrats will likely dominate the news cycle next week when they debate for two nights. Politico looks at Trump's infantile neediness and concludes that it's political genius:

Trump’s plan for the Dem debates: Make it about him

The president aims to suck up as much oxygen as possible from the 20 Democratic presidential contenders debating in Miami.

Donald Trump wants his Democratic competitors for the White House to introduce themselves to the American public next week on his terms.

Ahead of the first two Democratic presidential primary debates next Wednesday and Thursday, the president and his political team are angling to dominate the news cycle with carefully released tidbits meant to keep the public hooked on the machinations of the commander in chief.

And they're going to achieve dominance by doing what exactly?

This will range from the president sitting down for an extended interview with an anchor from Noticias Telemundo, who is also a moderator of the Democratic debates....

Oooh, yet another extended interview. Wow, that'll force the Democrats off their game! Never mind the fact that Trump's extended interview with George Stephanopoulos was a ratings flop, on a network that (unlike Telemundo) is regularly watched by non-Spanish-speaking Americans.

What else is going to dominate the news?

... to an announcement by the vice president next Tuesday in Miami — where the Democrats are holding their debates — that unveils a list of prominent Latino and Hispanic supporters.

Wow, Mike Pence -- Mister Excitement! Mike Pence and a group of political hacks most Americans have never heard of! That'll get Super Bowl-size ratings!

(Are we supposed to be surprised that Trump has Hispanic supporters? He gets the same 25% of the Hispanic vote that most Republicans do, and more in Florida, also like most Republicans, because so many Cuban-Americans lean conservative.)

And here's something we knew about:

And on the night of the first debate, Trump himself might live-tweet the debates as he flies on Air Force One to Japan for the G-20.

Trump posting tendentious tweets? That'll feel like ... every other day for the past four years!

Politico treats this as if Democrats should be quaking in their boots.

Just as Trump has dictated so much of the political narrative over the last four years, the president’s team is hoping the two Democratic debates simply morph into liberal candidates reacting to the president instead of putting forward their own visions for the country, policy proposals or personal stories. The blunt reality, Trump’s allies say, is that a Trump tweet can quickly overtake most actions by any one Democratic presidential candidate — an exasperating scenario for Democrats....

“It would not shock me if one of the moderators of the debate asked a Democrat about one of the president’s tweets and somehow then Trump became an even bigger part of the night,” said one Republican close to the White House.

Right -- the Democratic candidates, who seem to have absolutely no difficulty talking about issues, are suddenly going to be blown off course by ... Trump doing what he does on a daily basis, namely banging his spoon repeatedly on his high chair and saying, "LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME!!!"

And if he does grab attention, so what? If that happens, it will be because he said or did something most Americans would consider appalling -- thus reminding debate viewers why they should vote Democrat and creating a contrast with the mostly very nice, very thoughtful Democratic candidates.

Meanwhile, no one ever writes about how easy it is to get Trump to focus on at least one particular Democrat: Hillary Clinton, who was invoked seven times in a half hour during the president's campaign kickoff rally. And she's not even in office! She occupies much more real estate in Trump's head than Trump does in the heads of most of the Democratic candidates. Why doesn't that make her a political genius?