Trump Finds Bright Side of Coronavirus ‘Social Distancing’: ‘Much Nicer’ With Fewer Reporters
It didn’t take more than a minute for President Donald Trump to incorporate his gripes with the media into his latest White House press briefing on the coronavirus situation.
As Trump took to the podium at the start of the briefing, he quickly remarked on how the White House’s social distancing practices have caused a lot of chairs to be empty so that reporters are able to maintain safe distance. This, Trump said, resulted in the media being “so much nicer” to him.
“I think with social distancing, the media has been much nicer. I don’t know what it is. All of these empty, in-between chairs. We probably should not have anyone sitting behind you either. You should probably go back. but I love it. It is so much nicer. But I shouldn’t say that because you will get me now.”
Trump made other, similar comments throughout the briefing:
Trump says (jokes?) there too many reporters in the room given social distancing. Says 75-80% should leave and only have two or three that he likes for questioning.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 19, 2020
"I'll have just two or three that I like in this room," the president jokes about thinning out the press corp at the briefing room because of social distancing – anti-media humor.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 19, 2020
Pres Trump says press still sitting too close together and suggests reducing # of reporters by another 75-80%. Says there are 2 or 3 reporters he likes and that should be enough to question him. pic.twitter.com/0cvD2cgs8K
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) March 19, 2020
The Trump administration continues to face regular criticism for not doing more to address the pandemic, plus the president’s shifting position on when he decided to take the disease seriously.
Watch above, via C-SPAN.
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