The late-afternoon appearance of the president in the White House meeting room was designed to project a more dominant role for Trump, who was largely absent in discussing the health crisis that is ravaging the country and has seen it fall. their poll numbers as a result.
In a press conference that lasted about 30 minutes, Trump again said he believed the virus would go away and insisted that the US response to the pandemic was “much better” than elsewhere.
But he also offered more realistic projections that his advisers hope will make him appear like a sober leader.
“It will probably get worse before it gets better,” Trump said, echoing a prediction he made in early April of a “tough” two weeks ahead.
“Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact,” he said, adding later, “I’m getting used to the mask.”
Trump appeared alone from the podium, unaccompanied by any of the health experts who make up the White House coronavirus workforce. About an hour before Trump appeared on camera, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on CNN that he had not been invited to participate.
A person familiar with the matter said Fauci had initially hoped to appear at the press conference. But White House aides pointed out Monday and Tuesday that the revived presidential meetings were unlikely to include administration officials.
When asked why, Trump insisted Tuesday that another of the experts in the White House coronavirus task force, Dr. Deborah Birx, was standing “just outside” listening.
By bringing press conferences back, Trump and his aides hope to avoid the angry outbursts and meandering tangents that became the hallmark of his first round at the start of the pandemic.
They couldn’t completely avoid the unfortunate distractions on Tuesday; When asked about Ghislaine Maxwell, who faces charges of recruitment, grooming, and ultimately child sexual abuse, Trump said he “wanted her well” and recalled meeting with her and her partner Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach.
“I don’t know more than one,” said Trump. “Probably, on average, I do a test every other day, three days, and I don’t know of any time that I’ve taken two in one day, but I could see that happening.”
Still, his press conference met attendees’ expectations for duration, becoming much shorter than some of his previous forays that spanned nearly two hours.
And Trump offered only a flash of complaint about how his response has been covered, unlike the spring sessions that were filled with complaints about the media.
“If you watch American television, you think the United States was the only country involved and that it suffered from the China virus,” Trump said. “Well, the world is suffering a lot.”
It remains to be seen whether Trump maintains the relatively sober tone he set Tuesday, and there was little indication that a stronger national strategy to fight the virus was in the offing.
Before Tuesday, Trump had largely adopted a strategy of ignoring the pandemic in public. He had not held an event specifically related to the virus in more than two weeks.
That led to a severe drop in their political position when the Americans dwarfed their handling of the pandemic. The president’s political advisers warned him that his approach to the health crisis was seriously hurting him.
So on Monday, Trump announced that he would resume regular public meetings after suspending them in April and declaring them a waste of time. Trump is expected to hold briefings several times a week, but not daily, as he was earlier this year.
There remains an internal division over whether it is wise for Trump to take the stage and discuss the virus in a high-profile setting like a White House press conference.
Attendees debated for weeks to bring back the Trump reports, although the president himself was not entirely convinced that resuming them was a good idea, people familiar with the discussions said.
Trump insisted that using his platform to focus exclusively on the coronavirus would be a mistake and could signal to the country that his response so far has failed. But major allies, including Vice President Mike Pence, his weekend golf partner, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, advised him not to appear in the face of the problem was the root of their political problems.
To convince him, attendees developed a commitment: Their briefings could cover a variety of topics, not just the pandemic.
Some in the White House communications office have lobbied for briefings to be held in settings outside the White House, such as at the headquarters of health agencies, to keep them more focused. But on Tuesday he returned to his family environment: James Brady’s meeting room.
This story has been updated with additional developments on Tuesday.
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