Commentary: It may be satisfying to play down Trump's tirades, but that won't neutralize their power

As year two of the Trump administration begins, a workaround has emerged to deal with the president's mercurial rantings: Ignore them, deny them or try to wish them away.

At first, Republican Sens. Tom Cotton and David Perdue merely "did not recall" the president using a much-reported vulgarity in a White House meeting; then suddenly they were certain it had never happened at all. The head of the White House Correspondents' Assn., Margaret Talev, has dismissed President Trump's persistent denigrations of the press as "rhetoric" and says her organization will