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Trump Would Like Everyone to Say ‘Thank You’ for His Handling of Coronavirus Pandemic

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If there is one thing Donald Trump wants, it’s to be loved and appreciated. That’s it.

“We’ve done a fantastic job,” he said Tuesday of his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. “The only thing we haven’t done well is to get good press. We’ve done a fantastic job but it hasn’t been appreciated. Even the closing down of the borders, which had never been done, and not only did we close them but we closed it early. The press doesn’t like writing about it.”

Trump wants everyone to love him and thank him, and of course blames the press for somehow spinning his actions in a way that make him look bad.

The press has only reported the facts. Period. PERIOD. Even Fox News has changed their tune and realized how serious this pandemic is.

Trump was responding to a question about criticism of his administration’s response to the pandemic from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

After chiding the Obama administration for its handling of the swine flu outbreak, Trump asserted that his White House has done a “fantastic job,” citing travel restrictions in particular, and that the press refuses to cover it.

Trump frequently decries negative coverage as “fake news,” and has described certain outlets as the “enemy of the people.” But earlier in the briefing, Trump signaled he believes the press coverage of the coronavirus has been broadly fair, echoing statements he has made in recent days.

Trump has appeared more serious and somber in discussing the quickly spreading virus, which has killed dozens of Americans and infected hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Observers noted Trump’s shift in tone on Monday, which came after weeks of him downplaying the severity of the coronavirus and insisting it would dissipate soon.

“I didn’t feel different. I’ve always known this is a real — this is a pandemic,” Trump insisted on Tuesday when asked what led to the change, saying he didn’t feel a shift in his tone. “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was a pandemic.”

“There was no difference yesterday from days before,” he added. “I feel the tone is similar, but some people said it wasn’t.”

Even CNN”s Dana Bash claimed Trump seemed presidential, which she faced a lot of heat for.

Bash actually called Trump incredible. It’s amazing. Trump acts like a normal human being and somehow that is to be commended? He says words like a normal person and suddenly he’s FDR? GTFO with that crap.

CNN’s Chris Cilizza put it pretty well:

In Trump’s world of celebrity and reality TV, an action doesn’t really exist unless people acknowledge it. You are defined not by your actions but by people noticing your actions and the media covering your actions.

Now, we can debate — and historians will debate — whether Trump’s actions in regard to the coronavirus should be praised or panned.

But that’s not even what I’m talking about here. What Trump’s comments today make clear is how desperately needy he is to be praised for whatever he is doing. He wants to be thanked for doing his job.

And he wants people to appreciate what they’ve done even as more people are dying and more people are being sickened. Whether or not Trump did a bang-up job, lauding him is not — and should not be — the main focus of people (or the press) at the moment.

WATCH:

And Trump has claimed over a week ago that “Democratic Governors” were saying he was doing a fantastic job. I don’t believe this one iota.

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