(This article appeared in American Thinker.)

Being a spokesperson for President Donald Trump can be a challenge; even Mike Huckabee himself said so last week. It can require great creativity and dexterity, having to explain and present all sorts of colorful and provocative tweets and remarks with a positive spin. But unlike most supporters of the President, who twist themselves into pretzels trying to explain and (re)interpret his many interesting communications, I don’t really focus on it. Please allow me to explain.

It is true that the press and the President’s political opponents are out for blood, trying to smear and beat him down at every opportunity – just listen to the news on CNN, CBS and most other networks, whose reports sound like political attack ads rather than honest reporting – and the President is more than justified in his criticism of the media. However, I do not look so much at how the President fires back, for even if he does so in a manner that is beneath his dignity and that complies with every hyperbolically nasty description of his conduct on the part of his detractors, I look instead at how the country is being run and what is being accomplished.

I look to robust job growth, restorative energy and infrastructure policy, renewed economic stability, effective and proactive foreign policy, the building of new international alliances and the strengthening of reliable old alliances, and the United States’ rising influence on the world stage once again, after President Obama allowed everything to fall apart and enabled hostile regimes to take over large parts of the globe. Unlike his unworthy predecessor, President Trump confronts enemies of freedom.

For while the media is busy micro-tracking the side shows on Twitter, I prefer to focus on the real work and accomplishments. The media ignores it all, but let’s get beyond the media and look at the reality.

President Trump and New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio are both overseas this week, within a few miles of each other. In fact, the President and the Mayor are in Hamburg, Germany for the same exact event. Yet the contrast could not be starker.

After a very successful trip to Poland, President Trump is tending to state business of the highest order at the G-20 summit in Hamburg.  Despite the countless violent, rogue and lawless protesters, the President is moving our country’s agenda forward at the summit, as he temporarily leaves behind an America that is in far better shape than it was half a year ago. New employment and economic data were just released, confirming the great progress. ISIS is on its knees; things are good.

In contrast, Mayor De Blasio is in Hamburg to join the unwieldy protesters (!). The Mayor, whose background includes support for the Sandinista regime and who announced last month that he would happily march in New York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade despite the parade’s plans to honor a just-released terrorist – his leftist tendencies should hence come as no surprise – leaves behind a city which this week lost a police officer to a violent murder, which last week saw another violent murderer gun down people in a hospital, and which has a plunging quality of life problem, increasing homelessness and subway crime, a corrupt child welfare system and a crumbling infrastructure. The media loves De Blasio, yet his accomplishments are few and the problems that arose under his leadership are quite many.

One man in Hamburg is hated by the media and may not always come across as people would like, but look at what has been accomplished under his leadership. The other man in Hamburg is loved by the media and is as polished as the Queen’s sterling, but look at what he has (not!) accomplished.

The sages of the Talmud taught that Joshua merited to be appointed as Moses’ successor due to Joshua’s many decades of staying the course as Moses’ devoted assistant and disciple. During those years, Joshua was not a popular public figure, but he was doing all the right things and steadfastly getting much done, whether or not people realized it. His sustained work and study paid off.

America has leaders who are loved by the media but who accomplish little, as well as leaders who get things done yet are often lambasted or ignored by the media. The story of President Trump and Mayor De Blasio in Hamburg speaks volumes about this phenomenon. It is a study in contrasts, and we all know who comes out ahead where it matters most.