http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/11/the-hazards-of-the-trump-transition.php
"Hmm. Seems to me we’ve heard this kind of thing before. Oh yeah, this is what the media screamed about Ronald Reagan, who departed for his Santa Barbara ranch right after the 1980 election, to the horror of the media. Here’s my account from
The Age of Reagan:
Reagan felt no need to step into the spotlight, and allowed Ed Meese or a transition team spokesman to announce most of his cabinet selections while he remained in seclusion at home or up at the ranch. This gave rise to the first news stories that Reagan was “out of touch” with his own government, establishing a theme about Reagan that continues to this day. “Reagan on the Sidelines: Reagan Often Seems Remote From Administration-Shaping Process” the
Washington Post reported in mid-December. The
Post thought it odd that Reagan would be chopping wood at his ranch the same day his secretary of state was publicly announced. This led naturally to a flurry of official denials and explanations from Reagan’s senior staff that kept the story alive for another news cycle, even though the original story was not news at all, but a “media analysis,” that is, journalistic opinion disguised as news coverage. “Reagan ‘Is Really Running Things,’ Meese Tells Press,” read a
Post headline the next day. A week later, the theme ran again. “Meese Insists Reagan Isn’t Hiding Out” said the
Post headline on December 29.
Two scholars later concluded in
Presidential Studies Quarterly that “the Reagan transition was the most carefully planned and effective in American political history.” So ignore the media braying, and remember the famous William Goldman quote about Hollywood: “Nobody knows anything.”"
