CNN’s Stelter Defends Covering Trump’s ‘Insane’ Coronavirus Statements: ‘When a Leader is Not Well, We All Feel It’

CNN’s Brian Stelter used his latest Sunday monologue to blast President Donald Trump’s most recent, “insane” statements while simultaneously defending the need to maintain media coverage on what he says at briefings.

In his Reliable Sources opener, Stelter ripped Trump for “tweeting like [the coronavirus pandemic is] already over,” all while health experts warn that it will remain an issue for the foreseeable future. This caused the CNN host to raise the question “should we in the press even spend time on those quotes from the president and the VP if they’re misinformed?”

“Yes,” Stelter answered for himself, “because the public needs to evaluate the distance between their words and reality.”

After panning the president for railing against his political enemies on Twitter while Americans continue to die from Covid-19, Stelter said “even though it’s insane, we have to fact check what he’s doing…because poll after poll shows most Americans don’t trust what President Trump says, but some people do.”

“It’s not about whether to cover what the White House is saying, it’s about how to do it,” Stelter said.

Pointing to Trump’s dismissal of the coronavirus months ago, Stelter continued with his argument that “we need to make sure people remember what happened then and what may happen next.”

“The president’s statements matter even though many of you say we shouldn’t air the briefings, the briefings shouldn’t be seen. The present’s statements matter because they show his wellness, his competence or his lack thereof. When a grandparent is not well, the entire family feels it. The entire family shares the pain. Thousands of families know what that’s like right now. The American family is experiencing it too. When someone is not well, when a leader is not well, we all feel it.”

Watch above, via CNN.

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