What did Donald Trump do today?

He rage-quit.

Since blurting out that doctors should investigate injecting household cleaners as a COVID-19 cure, Trump has been strangely camera-shy. He's avoided public appearances altogether, other than a bill signing, where he angrily demanded that he was being "sarcastic" when he asked his medical advisors mid-press conference to look into intravenous use of disinfectants. Yesterday's briefing was a mere 22 minutes—the surrogate campaign rallies have been lasting more than two hours lately—and Trump took no questions.

Today, Trump signaled that he would stop attending the briefings, blaming the media for the "Fake News" of... broadcasting them.

In reality, Trump had been gleeful over the ratings, gloating on Twitter that they were "Monday Night Football" numbers as the number of Americans killed by the disease climbed into the thousands. 

But his staff and handlers, to say nothing of Republicans on the ballot with him in 2020, were desperate for him to get off the stage. It's not clear if Trump got that message, but he does now seem to understand that he is being mercilessly mocked, in everything from memes to song, as even the most reliably pro-Trump media outlets distanced themselves from the sight of Trump enthusiastically inquiring about the prospect of bleach-based COVID-19 cures.

So what?

• It's not "fake news" to turn a camera on someone and let them talk.