Except it is and it isn’t. He’s been laying the foundation to do just that. This is consistent with his “homegrown are next” messaging. Regardless of how many times he contradicts himself, it’s those that he is most consistent that are most troubling because they signal at his longterm agendas: his third term aspirations, his comments on annexing Canada and Greenland, his comments on “you won’t have to vote again” in four years, and his “homegrown are next” messages.
He doesn’t need to distract with distractions when he can distract with all the shit he wants to bring about. He just needs to shift the news cycle at a high enough pace so that yesterday’s insanity becomes old news that is overshadowed by whatever BS people have to deal today.