Anne Applebaum here is arguing that 1. Trump is a senile gibbering idiot so therefore 2. the Democrats must distract the public from paying attention to him
There's an episode of the X-Men where they all get kidnapped by a failing TV producer and forced to perform ridiculously contrived, life-threatening stunts to bring the ratings back up with an audience that grows ever more inured to the ever more lurid programming.
This idea reminds me of that.
It's all to drive up of ratings and page views for them. If you thought companies only looking at the next quarter was shortsighted and destructive, news media do that on a per minute basis. They HAVE to have drama, even if they make it, or no money/job. Any consequences are 'tomorrow' for them.
