Even as thousands of Americans die day after day from the Coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump remains absolutely obsessed with the television ratings of his daily Coronavirus press conferences, which frequently turn into venues for his paranoid meltdowns and antagonistic freakouts at reporters. This Tuesday, he again bragged about his supposedly always great television ratings, completely ignoring the fact that Americans would want to be tuning into his press conferences because of the need for lifesaving information. Trump seems more concerned with making himself look good, which attracted heaps of scorn.
He tweeted:
‘I’ve had great “ratings” my whole life, there’s nothing unusual about that for me. The White House News Conference ratings are “through the roof”(Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale, @nytimes ) but I don’t care about that. I care about going around the Fake News to the PEOPLE!’
I’ve had great “ratings” my whole life, there’s nothing unusual about that for me. The White House News Conference ratings are “through the roof”(Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale , @nytimes) but I don’t care about that. I care about going around the Fake News to the PEOPLE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2020
The number of times that Trump has quoted the article that compared the television ratings for his press conferences to those for Monday Night Football is absolutely staggering. Over and over and over again, he’s referenced the comparison, and all the while, the death toll from the Coronavirus has climbed up and up in the United States. As of early Tuesday, a full 42,500 Americans and counting had died from the Coronavirus.
To be abundantly clear, Trump’s idea that the press conferences provide some venue for him to spectacularly avoid the pitfalls of fake news is completely false. Trump spews lie after lie after lie at these press conferences. He’s claimed that he always took the virus seriously, but it took him until mid-March to even declare national social distancing guidelines. Earlier action could have helped stem the spread of the virus and saved lives.
Check out Twitter’s response…
Regarding ratings, tell that to families who are losing loved ones that are dying alone and can't have proper funerals. Why? Because you were so concerned about ratings you put your narcissistic need for ratings over prevention and now you are responsible. Enjoy your ratings!!! https://t.co/UQ24h0N247
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 21, 2020
42,000 people are dead. https://t.co/3do54NgYBN
— G O L D I E. (@goldietaylor) April 21, 2020
In times of national crisis, with tens of thousands dead, Trump focuses on what he cares about most: Himself. https://t.co/nyzzerXuaI
— Orin Kerr (@OrinKerr) April 21, 2020
History will judge you as THE greatest failure to ever hold the office of POTUS. You will be at the bottom of the list permanently. How's that for "ratings". https://t.co/mpnFUgImim
— #RandomWhiteGuy (@coleyworld) April 21, 2020
@realDonaldTrump is tweeting a lot of numbers about himself this morning to pump himself up. Here's one he forgot — 42k Americans have died from Covid-19. Here's another one. He did nothing for 70 days while it spread. https://t.co/Ouba4xOf0s
— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) April 21, 2020
