--- title: The Limits of Donald Trump's TV Strategy description: Donald Trump's focus on TV has limits as Trump faces tougher questions about his taxes, shifting policy positions and treatment of women. canonical: https://time.com/4336771/the-limits-of-donald-trumps-tv-strategy/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-16T12:50:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:33:46.777Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Limits of Donald Trump's TV Strategy og:description: Donald Trump's focus on TV has limits as Trump faces tougher questions about his taxes, shifting policy positions and treatment of women. og:url: https://time.com/4336771/the-limits-of-donald-trumps-tv-strategy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Limits of Donald Trump's TV Strategy twitter:description: Donald Trump's focus on TV has limits as Trump faces tougher questions about his taxes, shifting policy positions and treatment of women. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Limits of Donald Trump's TV Strategy > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 16, 2016 12:50 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 16, 2016 12:50 PM UTC **Donald Trump** hasn’t held a public campaign event in nine days, and his schedule for the week remains clear. Instead the presumptive GOP nominee and top aides are making the rounds of television shows as they seek to continue his most unconventional campaign. But the limits of that strategy are emerging, as Trump faces tougher questions about his taxes, shifting policy positions and treatment of women. In addition, the candidate found himself on defense this weekend over a leaked audiotape of a man, who sounded awfully like Trump, promoting Trump’s personal and professional conquests. Trump’s free-media first strategy worked well when he was one in a field of 17, now it will be tested when he’s the undisputed GOP nominee. Trump has tried to seed that coverage by leaning into the process media stories about who is running which aspects of his campaign and the members of his VP shortlist. But the appetite for Trump news is growing, potentially beyond the candidate’s control. **Hillary Clinton** still needs to contest the upcoming Democratic primaries, even though her nomination is assured. Just two weeks away from locking in the required delegates, Clinton has no choice but to grin and bear Sanders’ futile challenge, or risk alienating the very supporters she will need come November against Trump. But the extended primary fight comes at a cost, preventing Clinton from fully focusing on Trump and costing her precious resources before what will be an expensive general election campaign. Additionally, Sanders’ continued criticism of Clinton only prolongs the party’s divide and makes unification more difficult. But Sanders has managed to shift Clinton to the left on policy issues—and his demand for influence over the party’s platform will be difficult to ignore. **President Obama** weighs into the 2016 fray with an assault on Trump. Another president offers Clinton a boost. And John Boehner is back. Here are your must-reads: **Must Reads** [Starry, Starry Fight: The Pentagon’s General Bloat ](http://time.com/4336563/military-generals-congress/)Senate pushes for 25% cut in those wearing stars, TIME’s Mark Thompson reports [Obama Assails Trump’s Wall in Rutgers Commencement Speech ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-assails-trumps-wall-in-rutgers-commencement-speech/2016/05/15/b9afc1fa-1acd-11e6-8c7b-6931e66333e7%5Fstory.html?hpid=hp%5Fhp-top-table-main%5Fobama-rutgers-346pm:homepage/story)The president steps into the 2016 fray \[Washington Post\] [Clinton Caught in End-of-the-Primary Trap ](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/clinton-caught-in-end-of-the-primary-trap-223199)The Democratic front-runner needs to start focusing on Donald Trump. But she can’t do that without alienating Bernie Sanders’ supporters \[Politico\] [On More Than One Issue, GOP’s Trump Sounds Like a Democrat ](http://elections.ap.org/content/more-one-issue-gops-trump-sounds-democrat)But the conservative embrace continues \[Associated Press\] [Hillary Clinton Outlines Economic Plans, Which Include Her Husband ](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/us/politics/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-economic-plans-kentucky.html?em%5Fpos=small&emc=edit%5Fcn%5F20160516&nl=first-draft&nl%5Fart=5&nlid=55003713&ref=headline&te=1)The First Husband may get a jobs role \[New York Times\] **Sound Off** “Look, I mean, these are things that he is going to have to answer for.” — RNC Chairman Reince Priebus on questions about presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump’s treatment of women “They can try to hijack another party and get on the ballot, but, look, it’s a suicide mission for our country because what it means is that you’re throwing down not just eight years of the White House but potentially 100 years on the Supreme Court and wrecking this country for many generations.” — Priebus on some GOP efforts to mount a third-party challenge to Clinton and Trump **Bits and Bites** [Feds Promise Action to Fight Long Airport Wait Times](http://time.com/4329795/homeland-security-airport-wait-times-tsa/) \[TIME\] [Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/us/politics/donald-trump-women.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&%5Fr=1) \[New York Times\] [Benghazi Committee Chairman Accused of Ignoring Statement by GOP Lawyer](http://time.com/4336694/benghazi-committee-panel-trey-gowdy-democrats/) \[Associated Press\] [Is Ben Carson the Worst or the Best Surrogate of All Time? Yes.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/is-ben-carson-the-worst-or-the-best-surrogate-of-all-time-yes/2016/05/13/0afc3c52-17ac-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0%5Fstory.html) \[Washington Post\] [The Return of John Boehner](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/john-boehner-return-223194) \[Politico\] [Donald Trump Wouldn’t Have Had the Ready Cash to Self-Finance Entire Campaign](http://www.wsj.com/articles/self-financing-campaign-all-the-way-would-have-been-a-stretch-for-trump-1463341722) \[Wall Street Journal\] [Nevada Democrats’ Convention Turns Unruly](http://www.wsj.com/articles/nevada-democrats-convention-turns-unruly-1463359947) \[Associated Press\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4336771/the-limits-of-donald-trumps-tv-strategy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4336771/the-limits-of-donald-trumps-tv-strategy/"},"headline":"The Limits of Donald Trump's TV Strategy","datePublished":"2016-05-16T12:50:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:33:46.777Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: May 16","url":"https://time.com/4336771/the-limits-of-donald-trumps-tv-strategy/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4336771/the-limits-of-donald-trumps-tv-strategy/","name":"The Limits of Donald Trump's TV Strategy"}}]}] ```