Richard Grenell, mentioned as a possible ambassador to the United Nations in the incoming Trump administration, said Wednesday that Republicans should copy President Obama’s mastery of bypassing the traditional press.

Appearing on “The Laura Ingraham Show,” Grenell noted that Obama once brought three YouTube bloggers to the White House. That gave him access to 20 million subscribers who do not pay attention to newspapers.

“I think it’s a smart move, and Donald Trump totally did that in this election. He decided to speak directly to the American people.”

“He gets that you gotta go around these guys [reporters],” he said. “And a lot of times, Republicans have mocked that. I think it’s a smart move, and Donald Trump totally did that in this election. He decided to speak directly to the American people.”

Obama enjoyed a mostly friendly mainstream media as well, Grenell said.

“He got a two-fer — because they were for him, and he went around them,” he said.

Trump will not enjoy those luxuries, Grenell said. But he added that Trump understands how presidents must communicate in the modern world. Grenell, who served as a spokesman for the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration, said Facebook Live, talk radio, and other online platforms free leaders from having to kowtow to the mainstream media.

“Twitter is now a place — and Donald Trump mastered it — where you go directly to the American people with a message, and you go around the mainstream media, and the mainstream media hates it,” he said.

The sea change has caused panic among the traditional gatekeepers, he said.

“They no longer have a death grip on information to the American people,” he said.

What’s more, Grenell said, most journalists do not even understand the new reality.

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“Most reporters got it wrong because they listened to the same people and they did the same thing and they don’t understand that the American people decided to get the news from somewhere else,” he said. “If you were literally just listening to the mainstream media, there’s no way you would have voted for Donald Trump.”

Grenell ridiculed backroom sniping at the possibility that former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani might become secretary of state and Trump’s refusal to take advice on appointments from people whom the election discredited. Trump has a chance to be “one of the greatest presidents” — specifically because he does not pay attention to those voices, Grenell said.

“It’s the typical Washington way,” he said. “They’re panicking. The political media are panicking. Lobbyists and all of the insiders in Washington are panicking — because they lost.”