Trump Makes a Return to Improv

Go ahead and call it a comeback. Donald Trump has been here for years, sure, but at two press conferences over the past week, the nation has gotten a glimpse of an older edition of Trump—the freewheeling, improvisatory man who ran for president in 2016, rather than the comparatively cloistered, sclerotic one who has lived in the Oval Office.

First came the president’s bizarre press conference, his first in some 19 months. Trump was back at it again Monday, during remarks at the White House to . In both cases, the president with reporters, often berating or disrespecting them, but demonstrating his with them. Both cases also created a forum for reporters to ask Trump a number of questions on a range of topics, producing unexpected and newsmaking answers.