March 29, 2020

More Than 2,000 Americans Have Died of the Coronavirus. Trump Is Tweeting About His TV Ratings.

Can he get any more out of touch with reality?

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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More than 2,000 people in the United States are dead and at least 135,000 have confirmed cases of COVID-19. But President Donald Trump has decided to use his Sunday to tweet about his TV ratings. His White House press briefings are as popular as The Bachelor finale and Monday Night Football, he boasted in a series of tweets on Sunday:

Even for Trump, Sunday’s tweets feel exponentially out of touch with reality. 

For weeks now, Trump’s daily press briefings have attracted an average of 8.5 million viewers on cable news. He uses the briefings to go on rants attacking the media and political opponents, and to share misinformation. News organizations, including Mother Jones, have urged TV networks to stop airing his press conferences live. Seattle’s NPR station KUOW made the decision to stop airing the briefings after observing a “pattern of false information and exaggeration.”

Only a reality TV president would brag about his popularity while the country is in the middle of a public health crisis. And, as my colleague pointed out in this ingenious video, Trump’s denial of the gravity of the situation sounds like the first act of pretty much every disaster movie ever written.

 

 

 

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

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