To the extent that Trump and his team actually thought about any of this, they appeared to settle on three goals. The first was obvious: The president really wants that ballroom vanity project he’s been obsessed with for months. The second was more subtle: The White House used Saturday night’s violence to try to stifle dissent.

But the third goal was the most unexpected. MS NOW reported:

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has once again found himself in hot water with the Trump administration for comments he made on his show days before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday.

In a Thursday night sketch parodying the dinner, Kimmel performed a mock speech and joked at the expense of President Donald Trump’s inner circle, including first lady Melania Trump.

“Of course, our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at her, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said in the sketch that aired on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” two days before the event at the Washington Hilton.

In context, the joke was about the 24-year age gap between the president and the first lady, and the sketch made no reference to political violence or assassinations......

At this point, we could talk about how this offensive against the late-night host clearly appears to be rooted in bad faith. We could also talk about the White House’s weird preoccupation with late-night comedians, including the president’s ridiculous claim in the fall that their programs are “probably illegal,” the First Amendment be damned.

We could even talk about the fact that Team Trump’s first offensive against Kimmel was an embarrassing failure that ended up helping the comedian, and there’s no reason to believe the sequel will be any more successful.

But as important as those elements are, I’m still having a hard time understanding why the White House is investing its political capital so poorly. If the president and his operation are looking at the global and domestic landscape right now, and they’re thinking that Kimmel is worthy of their time, focus and energy, they’re mistaken.