Trump clearly walked to the podium with two priorities.
One, he wanted to rip the governor of Illinois for being a completely terrible governor according to Trump, and to brag about all that Trump – who is not a terrible president – has done for the state of Illinois. Trump said that “we” (him) had to staff the hospital for Illinois, because Illinois couldn’t do it themselves.
Two, Trump wanted to promote his snake oil, hydroxychloroquine, as he does in every press conference. I am speculating again, but I believe he must have money in this somehow, and when it is discovered (please god, please can someone find out if he has bought stock in these companies that make the generic), when it is discovered, I hope he goes to jail for pumping this drug.
He’s only doing this because the queen was a hit, right?
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) April 5, 2020 [1]
That could be a third reason.
And this is the real reason, just not what he wanted to discuss at the podium:
Joe Biden’s doing a town hall, isn’t he? And he’s trying to pre-empt a potentially damaging 60 Minutes?
— Dr. Jami Rogers (@publicradionerd) April 5, 2020 [2]
Dr. Birx is talking about seeing hopeful signs in Italy and Spain, which has been doing social distancing for a month. Mississippi, where I live, has been doing it for 48 hours.
Trump did say that he saw “light at the end of the tunnel,” and yet there is precious little light to see in this country.
I'm not seeing any light here. pic.twitter.com/sJMnMeyf7b [3]
— D Villella ❄️ (@dvillella) April 5, 2020 [4]
And the only thing worse than watching Trump in these press conferences is watching Mike Pence french kiss Trump’s ass – which I would think Pence would find against his religion, but I guess religion needs to give way when one’s god happens to be another man.
Throw together a media event at the last minute and Mike Pence will be ready to kiss some ass.
The “seamless partnership” made Massachusetts go into business with Bob Kraft to get masks from China.— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) April 5, 2020 [5]
Thankfully, MSNBC cut into the press conference, but only when Dr. Birx was speaking, and not during Trump’s lies. MSNBC did try to fact check Trump’s lies, but he only made about 5 claims, and 3 of them had to do with hydroxychloroquine.
Now Pence is on the hydroxychloroquine bus.
Here it is:
.@peterbakernyt [6] and I reported on Friday that the president’s frustrations with Fauci now center around his concerns that the untested chloroquines shouldn’t be treated as a miracle therapy for COVID. https://t.co/HDHKutFdKM [7]
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 5, 2020 [8]
Trump also acted like he deserved a prize for getting along with Democratic governors and mayors. During a pandemic. Which is what he should be doing anyway.
Trump alludes to Democratic governors and mayors and says "we're getting along with a lot people" like he deserves a prize or something pic.twitter.com/eF37iyKHAo [9]
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 5, 2020 [10]
****
Peace, y’all…yo
Jason
[email protected] @MiciakZoom
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