In the most bizarre year of the most bizarre presidency yet, press conferences have become more dumbfounding than informative. Donald Trump’s press conferences aren’t really press conferences, but he can’t have rallies and has to praise himself as the greatest president in history somewhere, so here we are.
BREAKING: Pres. Trump says he is cancelling Jacksonville, FL, portion of Republican National Convention, citing state's surge in COVID-19 cases.
"I'll still do a convention speech, in a different form. But we won't do a big crowded convention, per se."https://t.co/JsAo4rBy2e pic.twitter.com/e90nNXMoOL
— ABC News (@ABC) July 23, 2020
In Thursday’s press conference, which was billed as a briefing on the coronavirus but included mostly praise of Trump’s leadership skills by Trump himself. The most surprising news to come out of the press conference was the cancellation of the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, an alarming hot spot for the virus. While Trump insisted on going to Tulsa although experts said it was a terrible idea, and barely anyone showed up but a surge in cases hit the area soon afterward, he said on Thursday that he is cancelling the event because it’s his job to “protect American lives.” He even said it with a straight face.
No Doctor Fauci again at Trump’s press conference this evening, we are told. Third day in a row.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 23, 2020
Trump had no experts speak at this press conference/campaign rally even though Dr. Birx was there (Dr. Fauci was not), but Trump spoke for the entire conference. He did stop for a moment to praise Mariano Rivera, a relief pitcher for the New York Yankees who Trump invited to the briefing, because he agrees that schools need reopening because deaths will be rare. They’re still the deaths of children, but Trump promised to take funding from schools who refuse to reopen if they’re not in a hot spot.
Donald Trump called on former baseball player Mariano Rivera as a coronavirus expert at his press conference, then he canceled the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville. This is the weirdest game of mad libs yet.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) July 23, 2020
In the end, Trump spent most of his time talking about the stock market, his jobs numbers, his excellent response to COVID-19, and his poll numbers. With November right around the corner, Trump really needs something to latch onto, but all indications are that none of the “accomplishments” he wants to claim will look good for him on Election Day.
No one should cover the "beautiful" press conference that is not about the "China" virus, it's about Trump's political campaign and issuing challenges against the radical left – and thus he steals tv campaign time – this is not news – and shouldn't be treated as news.
— [email protected] (@JonFlan) July 23, 2020
Featured image screenshot via Twitter
