Trump's Latest "Jaw-Dropping, Eyeball-Popping" Propaganda Event

If you were unfortunate enough to have seen any part of malignant narcissist Donald "I Don't Take Any Responsibility At All" Trump's coronavirus briefing propaganda event yesterday, you'll recognize the characterizations of these two reporters, which we're quoting at length:

BBC North America editor Jon Sopel:

This has been the most dizzying, jaw-dropping, eyeball-popping, head-spinning news conference I have ever attended. And I was at Bill Clinton's news conference in 1998 when he faced the press for the first time over his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

I was at this president's first White House gathering when he called me "another beauty". I was in Helsinki when he had his first news conference with Vladimir Putin, and seemed to prefer to believe the Russian leader over his own security and intelligence chiefs on interference in the 2016 election.

I was in Vietnam when Mr Trump gave a news conference after his talks with Kim Jong-un had unceremoniously collapsed. So I've sat in on some corkers. [snip]

There are more than 23,000 Americans dead because of coronavirus and more than half a million infected - and remember that, in early March, Donald Trump was saying there were a handful of cases, but that would soon be down to zero.

Yet Donald Trump walked into the briefing room with scores to settle with the media. This wasn't about the dead, the desperately sick, the people fearful of catching the virus. This was about him. And more particularly his profound sense of grievance that the media has been critical of his handling of Covid-19.

If you think that is an unfair exaggeration, after a few moments he said he was going to play a video. It had been produced by White House staff, even though it bore all the hallmarks of a campaign video. If it was a movie, it would have been called "Coronavirus: Why Donald Trump is Great - and the Media Awful".

One of the reporters quoted in the film would complain immediately afterwards that her words had been taken out of context.

The Washington Post's Aaron Blake:

Near the start of his daily coronavirus briefing on Monday, President Trump made a statement that betrayed, better than just about anything, how he views the purpose of such briefings.

Before playing a campaign-style video intended to show his decisive action on the virus and to accuse his critics of being the actual culprits on downplaying the threat, Trump cued it up by talking about what he wanted to do after it played.

“Most importantly,” he said, “we’re going to get back on to the reason we’re here, which is the success we’re having.”

Trump’s self-promotion, falsehoods and use of dodgy medical advice in these coronavirus briefings have led to a dialogue about whether networks should carry them live. And on Monday, he seemed to be daring all of them to stop, turning the whole thing into a spectacle of government-produced propaganda and even more personal score-settling and grievances.  [snip]

Trump proceeded to downplay many complaints about the federal response, going so far as to say that there is no problem with the number of ventilators and other equipment available. The reality is significantly different, according to the states.

Trump also at one point maintained, “Everything we did was right.” When pressed on the claim, he declined to restate it but cast blame on governors for not stockpiling more ventilators.

It was soon noted that the video Trump had cued up left out a significant chunk of time in February — after the China travel ban and before Trump acknowledged the severity of the situation in mid-March — in which he didn’t take significant steps.

“What did you do in February?” CBS News’s Paula Reid asked.

Trump responded, “What do you do when you have no cases in the whole United States?” Reid rightly noted that there were actually cases in February, but Trump ignored it, refocusing on the lack of cases in mid-January. Pressed, he assured that the administration had in February done “a lot, and in fact we’ll give you a list."

We won't be holding our breath waiting for that list.

There's a main takeaway that should be as obvious as it is recurring:  Trump, being a malignant narcissist, has no interest in you.  He has no capacity for empathy.  His only interest is to shield and aggrandize himself above all others.  To the extent he's aware of others, it's simply to note how much he is worshiped and admired by them.

Another takeaway must be that the media stop showing these campaign propaganda shitshows live.  Not one minute.  If there's information on the medical front, it can be broadcast in the ensuing news programs that generally follow these sick displays.  But stop giving this dangerous, unhinged fool free airtime for his ax- grinding, grievance- laden, media- undercutting, lie- filled performances.