WASHINGTON – After a day spent with his campaign advisers at his private club in Bedminster, NJ, President Trump appeared Friday night for a surprise “news conference” that at times seemed to benefit his loyal club members when it came to making news as an approach. of the crisis facing the nation.
Speaking for dozens of members who gathered in a ballroom to see him, many of them holding wine glasses and wearing masks, Mr Trump said reporters in the room “waited outside for a long time” and described the back and expected ahead he as “always a lot of fun.”
The audience even had a chance to participate, shouting loudly when it was suggested by a reporter that the largely unmasked audience in the room was violating social distancing guidelines, and then cheering when the president remarked that the members of the club ‘know that the news is false. ”
When millions of Americans face threats of redundancies and a loss of income or benefits without a deal in Congress, and with the Washington dysfunction, Mr. Trump promised to solve new levels, the president, bluwgeoned, promises to take action by presidential fiat and reiterate that the virus has already disappeared – all from the confines of a gilded room among chandeliers, far from Washington, ensconced in his private club.
“It’s going away, it’s going to go away,” Mr Trump said falsely about the coronavirus, a return to the kind of declining attitude his staff sought to persuade him, hurting his chances of election. Just weeks ago, the president acknowledged, trying a pivot, that it “would get worse before it gets better.” But cases nationwide remain at elevated levels and, through many measures, the United States is doing worse than most other major nations.
On Friday night, Mr. Trump threatened to sign entrepreneurial orders to sidestep the gridlock on Capitol Hill over coronavirus relief evidence, but he did not provide specifications on when he would do so, or exactly what the orders would say.
“I will act under my authority as president to give Americans the relief they need,” the president said, noting that he would be willing to extend a national moratorium on evictions, defer student loans and payments. notice “, and improve unemployment benefits by the end of the year. He avoided questions about how he could legally embrace Congress.
“You are always charged,” he said.
He bragged about the July jobs figures, although they signaled that the economic recovery was losing steam. And in a statement he recalled despite his own health care professionals opposing him, he falsely stated that the reason the cases had increased “was because we were testing a lot.”
Before appearing in front of the cameras, Mr. Trump pointed out in particular to the attending reporters as part of his show. “You will meet the false news tonight,” he told club members, according to CNN, which picked up audio from a hot mic. ‘Oh, all my killers are there, wow. You’ll see some of the people we deal with every day. “
The president, accompanied by just a few White House assistants for a weekend that will include lenders in Southampton, NY, and Deal, NJ, came out of a difficult week in which his mood was so fierce that aides one warned another about eruptions, according to several people familiar with what took place.
Earlier in the week, Mr. Trump had an exciting phone call with casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson, who called on the president not to donate any more to support his re-election, according to a person familiar with the call. Mr. Adelson and his wife donated $ 10 million to a super PAC that will support Mr. Trump in 2018, and have each written for nearly $ 600,000 during this cycle.
Spending the day with his political advisers in the comfort of his club helped improve Mr. Trump’s mood, and by evening he was sure to get some attention. Helpers advised to set up a news conference, complete with the club members encouraging him.
But after nearly an hour, even Tucker Carlson of Fox News, a frequent booster of Mr. Trump, away for a story about Kanye West’s interesting presidency.
Annie Karni reported from Washington, and Maggie Haberman from New York.
