| "You should be saying congratulations" President Donald Trump began his public response to the coronavirus outbreak by accusing the media of being in “hysteria mode” and comparing Covid-19 to the flu.
Since then, his public posture has changed several times, from an effort at seriousness to being churlish and offended when questioned. Through it all, though, he's had complete confidence in and commitment to at least one idea: that he is doing a great job.
Trump has continued and continued to praise himself and his administration over the weeks. In 25 press briefings, four interviews on Fox News, and a series of tweets since March 13, Mediaite found that Trump has lauded his own administration’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak at least 116 times.
Mediaite's KJ Edelman chronicles that journey, with this comprehensive list (and video montage) of
Trump's comments praising the Trump response to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
More like 60,000 Dr. Anthony Fauci said on the Today Show “this is going to be a very bad week” but expressed hope that the country will soon turn the corner. The coronavirus task force member also said the projected death toll for the coronavirus has dropped significantly. “The number of deaths and the cases that we’re seeing right now are really validating what we said, that this is going to be a very bad week on the one hand,” Fauci told Savannah Guthrie on Thursday. He also shot down the conspiracy theory floating around the internet, and among some journalists, that hospitals are artificially inflating the death toll from the coronavirus.
“You know, Savannah, there is absolutely no evidence that that’s the case at all,” said Dr. Fauci in this very important exchange.
No one has forgotten
Meghan McCain slammed Trump on Thursday with a brutal reminder of how he treated her father, after Trump tweeted about National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day.
Trump claimed that "we" honor prisoners of war. McCain reminded him just who isn't in that "we."
Bad news comes in polls People who consume news sources like Fox News are more than twice as likely to be uninformed about the coronavirus as those who take in sources like CNN and MSNBC, according to a stunning new survey conducted by Gallup.
There's much more to it than just that.
Good news about Good News “I will reserve the word heroes for the first responders who are at a completely different level in terms of their sacrifice, but in a time when no one really wants to defend the sort of amorphous media, I will,” said Mediaite founder and ABC chief legal analyst Dan Abrams on his show today. “I will say I salute the vast and overwhelming majority of you who have done terrific work, and who have taken great risks, and endured slings and arrows to get the truth to the American people."
Abrams explained at length how the press has been invaluable during the crisis.
Are the pressers just campaign rallies?
That's the question SiriusXM radio host and Mediaite columnist Dean Obeidallah answered today. And more importantly, argues that the networks should be giving presumptive nominee Joe Biden equal time with Trump's now daily briefings.
| 
