Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that the White House was looking at setting a date to lift social distancing guidelines, suggesting that “America will be open for business very soon.”
He said that it will be “a lot sooner than three or four months that somebody was suggesting. … We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.”
The briefing on Monday was covered by cable news networks and briefly by some of the broadcast networks, which cut away to evening or local newscasts. However, because the press conference rambled on forever, both MSNBC and CNN cut away…enough was enough.
And this didn’t sit too well with the White House.
White House spokesman Judd Deere tweeted, “Pretty disgraceful that CNN and MSNBC have both cut away from this White House briefing with Donald Trump
and Mike Pence during a global pandemic. Thank you to Fox News for keeping Americans informed.”
Pretty disgraceful that @CNN [1] and @MSNBC [2] have both cut away from this @WhiteHouse [3] briefing with @realDonaldTrump [4] and @Mike_Pence [5] during a global pandemic. Thank you to @FoxNews [6] for keeping Americans informed. #COVID19 [7]
— Judd Deere (@JuddPDeere45) March 23, 2020 [8]
CNN’s Oliver Darcy responded, “CNN spokesperson responds: “If the White House wants to ask for time on the network, they should make an official request. Otherwise we will make our own editorial decisions.”
CNN spokesperson responds: “If the White House wants to ask for time on the network, they should make an official request. Otherwise we will make our own editorial decisions.” https://t.co/EEOuwZBx3F [9]
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 23, 2020 [10]
Twitter wasn’t feeling very bad for Trump:
Judd,
You work for Donald Trump. There is nothing more disgraceful than that.
And the networks turned off the President because he was lying on national television over and over again.
You have enabled a madman. https://t.co/qnmKDw35E6 [11]
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) March 24, 2020 [12]
never let any of these people ever forget what they've done https://t.co/wkBU4qUTtC [13]
— Scott Weinberg (@scottEweinberg) March 24, 2020 [14]
Wait. There's a pandemic?
Because your boss told Americans *less than a month ago* that the number of Coronavirus cases "within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done."
Was that not true? https://t.co/5pf00lzW4V [15]
— Obama Economic Legacy (@DemDifference) March 24, 2020 [16]