On Wed, 15 Apr 2020 09:00:17 +0200 (CEST), "Crystal Clear"
Post by Crystal ClearIf there is a lesson to be learned from this, it is don't act
like Andrew Cuomo the clueless.
President Trump stepped to the lectern Monday on a day when the virus
death toll in the United States ticked up past 23,000. He addressed
the nation during a period where unemployment claims have shot past 15
million, and lines for food banks stretch on toward the horizon.
Yet in the middle of this deadly pandemic that shows no clear signs of
abating, the president made clear that the paramount concern for Trump
is Trump his self-image, his media coverage, his supplicants and his
opponents, both real and imagined.
Everything we did was right, Trump said, in a sometimes hostile
2-1/2 hour news conference in which he offered a live version of an
enemies list, brooking no criticism and repeatedly snapping at
reporters who dared to challenge his version of events.
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Trump has always had a me-me-me ethos, an uncanny ability to insert
himself into the center of just about any situation. But Mondays
coronavirus briefing offered a particularly stark portrait of a
president seeming unable to grasp the magnitude of the crisis and
saying little to address the suffering across the country he was
elected to lead.
News to stay informed. Advice to stay safe.
Click here for complete coronavirus coverage from Microsoft News
At one point after praising himself for implementing travel
restrictions on China at the end of January and griping about being
brutalized by the press Trump paused to boast with a half-smirk:
But I guess Im doing okay because, to the best of my knowledge, Im
the president of the United States, despite the things that are said.
The news conference began when Trump turned to Anthony S. Fauci, the
nations top infectious disease specialist, and asked him to say a
few words before we go any further. With that, Fauci stood and
offered a not-quite-apology for comments he made over the weekend to
CNNs Jake Tapper, in which he confirmed that he and other health
experts had made mitigation recommendations to Trump as early as the
third weekend of February and said that earlier mitigation could have
saved lives.
On Monday, Fauci tried to walk back his comments, saying he had been
responding to a hypothetical and had not intended to criticize the
president, who he praised for implementing the recommendations of
public health officials like himself.
That was the wrong choice of words, said Fauci, whose relationship
with the president has been tense at times.One reporter asked him if
he was speaking voluntarily or at the behest of the president.
Everything I do is voluntarily, Fauci said. Please dont even imply
that.
Next, Trump played a propaganda-style video that he said had been
pulled together by White House aides earlier in the day. In a short
hagiography more in line with a political event than a presidential
news conference, clips critical of the media were interspersed with
footage of loyalists praising the president.
The president has been outstanding through all this, Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis (R) says in the video. The vice president has been
outstanding. Members of the coronavirus task force very responsive.
Since the pandemic began, Trumps almost daily news conferences have
increasingly taken on the feel of campaign rallies a simulacrum for
the raucous, Keep-America-Great-fests he has had to forgo amid the
global contagion.
And on Monday, he brought many of those trademark campaign moments
into the briefing room.
You know, I don't mind controversy, Trump said, offering something
of a guiding life principle. I think controversy is a good thing, not
a bad thing.
He also criticized sleepy Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic
nominee, because Biden, he said, had previously criticized him, and
jousted with the fake news.
Shortly after Trump played the video, CBSs Paula Reid pressed him on
how his administration failed to use the month of February to ready
itself for the coming virus, after sharply limiting travel from China.
You didnt use it to prepare hospitals, you didnt use it to ramp up
testing, Reid said, before Trump cut her off, calling her
disgraceful.
Reid forged ahead. What did you do with the time that you bought, the
month of February? she asked, as Trump talked over her. That video
has a gap the entire month of February
What did your
administration do in February with the time that your travel ban
bought you?
A lot. A lot, said Trump, without offering any specifics, before
turning his frustration back on Reid.
You know youre a fake, he said.
At another moment, seemingly eager to assert his dominance over the
nations governors, Trump declared incorrectly, When somebody is the
president of the United States, the authority is total.
Later, CNNs Kaitlan Collins followed up: You said when someone is
president of the United States, their authority is total. That is not
true. Who told you that?
The president declined to answer, saying the governors need us
before abruptly silencing Collins with a sharp, Enough.
About halfway through, Trump finally departed, leaving the remainder
of the briefing to Vice President Pence and the public health
professionals. But the first hour of the news conference was a paean
to the president and his ego, orchestrated by Trump himself.
For one fleeting instance, the president seem poised to reveal a
flicker of self-awareness. Asked why he shared a tweet from a
supporter with the hashtag #FireFauci, the president that while he
personally thinks Fauci is terrific, not everybody is happy with
him.
Not everybody is happy with Trump said, before pausing briefly.
He seemed about to say himself; not everybody is happy with Fauci, and
not everybody is happy with Trump.
But then, never one for self-criticism, he concluded: Not everybody
is happy with everybody.
***@washpost.com
Philip Rucker contributed to this report.