I’m not sure where deception enters in.
Is it your take that Trump is using deception to fool the press, and that that is not good?
This seems like an honorable thing to do, knowing these people are leaking. Burn them.
He could just fire them.
Instead he’s putting them to work for him. Gotta love that.
The problem is longer term. There will be legitimate issues brought up by the media and his efforts to discredit them in the eyes of the public bring about a situation that should be taken seriously and it won't.