As Coronavirus cases and deaths in the U.S. continue to spike significantly, President Donald Trump is still refusing to give up his racism and antagonism of the media. At a Thursday press conference, he launched into repeated tirades against members of the media, who back towards the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak, he lied were conspiring to try and make him look bad with their coverage of the situation. Now, he mockingly suggested that almost all journalists should be kicked out of the White House entirely except those he likes, and he seemed perfectly fine with the absurd notion that members of the media are pushing “foreign state propaganda.”
He made his initial glib threats to force the majority of journalists out of the White House while discussing Coronavirus’s effect on Congress. Two House members — Florida Republican Mario Diaz-Balart and Utah Democrat Ben McAdams — have tested positive for the Coronavirus, and spread among members of Congress could be especially precarious considering that many of them are on the older, more vulnerable side.
Trump seemed unfazed. He commented to the journalists in attendance:
‘You’re actually sitting too close. We should probably get rid of about another 75-80 percent of you. I’ll have just two or three of you that I like in this room. I think that’s a great way of doing it. We just figured a new way of doing it… but look, I know all of em. They tested positive. Hopefully they’re gonna get better. It’s one of those things — it’s Congress, you know? It’s one of those things.’
TRUMP attacks reporters: "You're actually sitting too close. We should probably get rid of about another 75-80 percent of you. I'll have just two or three of you that I like in this room. I think that's a great way of doing it." pic.twitter.com/30ucSn9JSQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 19, 2020
Later on, after asking the loaded question of whether or not he thinks the term “Chinese food” is racist (obviously he said no), a “reporter” from the far-right One America News Network asked:
‘On that note, major leftwing news media, even in this room, have teamed up with Chinese Communist Party narratives, and they’re claiming you are racist for making these claims about the Chinese virus. Is it alarming that major media players, just to oppose you, are consistently siding with foreign state propaganda?’
It’s absurd to suggest that journalists are, uh, “teaming up” with Communists for daring to suggest that Trump’s repeated reference to the Coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” is racist. He’s completely unnecessarily and pointlessly tying the disease and its obviously negative effects to Chinese identity.
Trump acknowledged none of this. He played right along, responding:
‘It amazes me when I read the things that I read… it amazes me when I read The New York Times… I barely read it, you know, we barely distribute it in the White House anymore… because, you see, I know the truth, and people out there in the world — they really don’t know what it is… It’s really — I think I came up with the term; I hope I came up with the term — but it is fake news. It’s more than fake news; it’s corrupt news.’
Watch:
Wow. A reporter from OANN asks Trump a loaded question about whether reporters criticizing his racism are "siding with foreign state propaganda" and Trump uses it as an opportunity to unload on the media pic.twitter.com/tZR7a6T1N5
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 19, 2020
Besides all of this nonsense, there are substantial developments in the pipeline. The Trump administration has proposed a $1 trillion bailout package for the U.S. economy, with some of that money for corporations and other sums for individuals.
