Anybody remember the West Wing episode where a reporter wants a story about the President calling a lame-duck session of Congress?
He asks the press secretary "has he considered it", which she knows is a trap -- sooner or later the reporter can escalate it into her asking the President if he's considered it. And as soon as she asks him that, it will be factually true that he will have "considered it", since the thought of that as an option will have been in his mind. At which point the reporter can write the story he wanted to write, saying "the President has considered calling a lame-duck session of Congress..."
Thoughts can be somewhat predictive of future concrete actions, and I may want to take concrete actions in the present that reflect that. This is not to say that we therefore have a right to read the president's mind, just that "meaningless" isn't quite right...
He asks the press secretary "has he considered it", which she knows is a trap -- sooner or later the reporter can escalate it into her asking the President if he's considered it. And as soon as she asks him that, it will be factually true that he will have "considered it", since the thought of that as an option will have been in his mind. At which point the reporter can write the story he wanted to write, saying "the President has considered calling a lame-duck session of Congress..."