Bluster of The Donald

China's building military fortresses in the South China Sea and we're worrying about the environmental impact of a border wall with Mexico on toads and turtles? Wait until China has to deal with Carl Icahn.

Don't worry about the cost of a wall. The Old Post Office building is coming in under budget. As is his campaign.

By the way, Hillary has lower energy than Bush. Trump's a nice person. He actually wants to help Syrian refugees, with a massive safe zone. Can you believe Angela Merkel was the person of the year and he wasn't? The wall -- Mexico's going to pay.

Ted Cruz, he's a good guy.

Remember the escalator in Trump Tower? The press that day looked like the Academy Awards. No one would be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for Trump. More polls.

Bernie Sanders, a total disaster who wants to raise your taxes to 90 percent.

Back to Clinton, he's the last person she wants to run against.

Trump will save the Second Amendment. If only Parisians had guns. It wasn't politically correct for neighbors to report ISIS sympathizers in San Bernardino. Trump's poll numbers went up after the attacks.

The trade stuff is easy. How we messed up Iraq. We're going to be rich, safe, strong again.

Readers, this is no caricature -- it's Trump unfiltered, alighting briefly on a topic, complicated or trivial, before flitting to the next. And it's not as if Trump bolsters his stump speech with policy depth in proposals or interviews. If Obamacare is a disaster, what's Trump's replacement? If Common Core is dead, what's his alternative?

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has estimated that Trump's tax plan -- one subject he barely mentions -- would cost $9.5 trillion over the first decade, not including added interest. In 2000, when a surplus was forecast, George W. Bush proposed cuts costing $1.3 trillion. They were extensively debated -- in the campaign.

Trump relies on his ability to dominate the news with provocative distractions, to repel serious questions until interviewers' time runs out. We in the media must find a way, if not to pierce the bluster, at least to expose it.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.