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The President of the United States, Donald Trump, was so angry with the media and so annoyed at the ridicule at his suggestion that disinfectant be injected into patients with coronavirus, that he abandoned his daily report on Monday.
Well, for a couple of hours anyway.
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In a confusing series of announcements, the White House scheduled a press conference with Trump for Monday afternoon. Then he discarded it.
Then put it back on.
In the end, Trump resisted in the Rose Garden. It was, by his standards, a largely drama-free event, where he declared that the pandemic and the economic crisis in the United States were about to hit rock bottom and predicted an “incredible” recovery next year.
“Every day improves,” said the Republican president, whose re-election campaign was affected by the sudden crisis.
This was Trump’s last attempt to control the damage after criticism, even from some of his own party, that the daily briefings were too combative, becoming miniature versions of his now suspended campaign rallies.
Public relations disaster
On Thursday, it sparked a public relations disaster when it suggested that people could inject disinfectants to fight the virus. A barrage of contempt, alarm, and criticism occurred around the world.
The next day, an angry Trump left the briefing without answering questions. During the weekend, no briefing was held. Then came Monday’s mixed message.
“We like to keep journalists alert,” White House director of strategic communications Alyssa Farah tweeted, with the cheery addition of a blinking emoji.
There hasn’t been as much humor coming from the Oval Office, except possibly for the sarcastic guy.
Trump has been outraged by the unflattering newspaper reports of his work habits and the frequent use of sometimes two-hour briefings to praise himself, while mistreating his rivals.
Following his disinfecting comment, he claimed it was sarcasm directed at journalists during the press conference, although he had clearly been speaking directly to his medical advisers, not journalists, and there was no apparent sarcasm in his voice.
Over the weekend, he also used the sarcasm defense to explain a strange tweet in which he told reporters that he believes they are treating him unfairly to get his “Noble Prizes” back.
When Twitterverse brightened up with questions about why Trump was misspelling the Nobel Prize, which isn’t even awarded to journalists, and if he had really meant to say the Pulitzer Prize, the President complained, “Does sarcasm ever work?”
Early Monday, Trump kept up the storm of tweets against the media, writing: “FALSE NEWS, THE ENEMY OF PEOPLE!”
“There has never been, in the history of our country, a more vicious or hostile Lamestream media than the one that exists at the moment, even in the midst of a national emergency, the invisible enemy!” Trump also wrote.
Huge pressure
Another tweet on Saturday fueled rumors that Trump was going to close the briefings entirely.
“What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, and then refuses to accurately report the truth or facts,” Trump wrote, adding his frequent saying that he got “record ratings”.
However, the President faces great pressure to demonstrate his leadership and the briefings give him great visibility.
Trump’s new press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, indicated that a new strategy would be implemented, emphasizing Trump’s business background and focus on reopening the U.S. economy.
“We are looking for different ways to show this president as a leader,” he told Fox News.
McEnany suggested a change “to show the American people the great entrepreneurial spirit of this president.”
“I’m not going to get ahead of what this week’s briefings will be like. They may look different,” he said.
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