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The show is over. The artist’s reelection is in danger. United States President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would no longer hold daily press conferences to update information on the coronavirus. “It’s not worth it!” He tweeted, after two days of being ridiculed nationwide for suggesting strange theories to fight the virus. Trump’s words came with more than 50,000 deaths in the United States from covid-19 and the largest economic paralysis in a century. Trump seems to have realized that he cannot turn his management of the coronavirus crisis into a constant electoral concentration.
The coronavirus crisis offered Donald Trump a unique opportunity to present himself as the country’s leader seven months before the election and with his rivals locked up at home. Daily press conferences at the White House to update the figures, as well as federal government action, have even been criticized as electoral acts, and Trump makes no secret that he sees them this way, too. He even bragged about the audience on television. But Donald Trump in front of a microphone is a minefield. At some point, it would explode.
That moment came Thursday, when Trump said in the White House pulpit that it was necessary to investigate whether the virus could be killed by “putting the body” under “tremendous ultraviolet light.” Then he suggested that perhaps disinfectant could be injected to kill the cause of covid-19. It is unclear what Trump’s sources are for launching these theories into the air. “I find it interesting,” was his justification. The face of Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the team against the pandemic, while listening to these words from Trump, has already become a joke on the Internet.
The uproar in the media and social networks was immediate. This time, however, it was different from Trump’s other tone outs. It was not a scandal, but a mockery. Even Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden came up to ask Trump supporters not to commit suicide. “I can’t believe I have to say this, but please don’t drink bleach,” he wrote on Twitter.
A company that makes two known cleaning products released a statement asking that no one ingest them. The head of the food safety regulator also asked that in no case should people introduce disinfectant into their bodies. The Center for Disease Control published a tweet in which it politely said: “Household cleaners and disinfectants can cause health problems if not used properly.” Trump retweeted that message.
On Friday morning, Trump justified himself by saying he had said it in a “sarcastic” way. Very rarely did Trump try to soften his words on the grounds that he was joking. In general, double the bet. In the afternoon, he gave the day’s information on the coronavirus, but for the first time, he did not admit questions. There was no press conference on Saturday. In the afternoon, Trump made the new situation clear in a tweet: “What is the point of the White House press conference when the insipid media mainstream he does nothing but ask hostile questions and then refuses to report the data accurately. They have record audiences and Americans get fake news. It is not worth the time and effort. ”
At the time, the Maryland Emergency Department said it had received 100 calls from people interested in learning about the use of disinfectants against the virus. The New York health authority said it had recorded 30 cases of injuries from ingesting cleaning products between Thursday and Friday, triple the same day last year. The Illinois health authority said it saw a “significant increase” in inquiries about problems with cleaning products.
Like all episodes of this coronavirus crisis, Trump’s mistake has a public health but also an electoral dimension. All this happens seven months before the presidential elections that the two parties see as the most important in several generations. For the Republican Party, Trump’s addiction to television is a double-edged sword, and it is beginning to run through it. At the moment, it is difficult for Trump to present himself as a moderate and consistent leader in a national emergency.
Trump is the face of the United States in a crisis in which 26 million people applied for unemployment benefits last month. The improvement in the economy, Trump’s main reelection argument, could disappear entirely in November. Not only the presidency is at stake, but the majority in the Senate. The Republican Party has shown that it is ready to go to the elections by embracing Trump and defending, apologizing or ignoring almost everything the president says. Most. The idea of injecting yourself with disinfectant seems difficult.
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