Petulant, Withdrawn; Who So Fiercely Poses . . .

The mayor field tests his ideas about building a low-information coalition:

After arriving in a ferryboat festooned in bunting, with big-band jazz blaring from the shoreline, Mayor Bill de Blasio made an announcement on Monday that New York City’s new ferry service would soon begin. Then he walked away.

No questions were asked; no questions were allowed.

Most other times, this would be a strange sight — the mayor of the nation’s largest city passing up a chance to pontificate and parry with the City Hall press corps. But over the past four weeks, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, has staunchly exhibited an approach that might be described as “don’t ask, don’t answer.”

No questions were allowed after a Police Academy graduation, beside the statue known as “Fearless Girl” in Lower Manhattan, or even at the handful of events during the mayor’s weeklong road trip on Staten Island last week.

[. . .]

“It’s very unusual for a mayor of New York City,” said Robert Shrum, a former Democratic political consultant, presidential campaign adviser and speechwriter who teaches politics at the University of Southern California.

“Unless you’re Donald Trump, appealing to a very different electorate, it’s just a loser,” he added. Voters may not care about whether this or that question is answered as much as the news media does, but “after a while, people get upset, too,” Mr. Shrum said. “Over time it can make you look petulant, withdrawn.”

. . . and rises to the level of the Times editorial board:

As for reporters being stifled at staged events: “You don’t want to be a part of it, you don’t have to come.”

That is a bad, bad thing to say. Especially now. This is the age of President Trump, defamer of the news media, suppressor of facts, denier of reality. When shutting down reporters for doing their jobs, Mr. de Blasio — who so fiercely poses as an anti-Trump — displays his inner Donald.