WH Privately Backchannels Its Coronavirus Messaging to Conservative Social-Media Influencers

[steve2470]

White House Privately Backchannels Its Coronavirus Messaging to Conservative Social-Media Influencers

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-white-house-privately-backchannels-its-coronavirus-messaging-to-conservative-social-media-influencers

As the coronavirus has worsened, members of the task force President Donald Trump has assigned to combat the pandemic have reached out to prominent conservative social media “influencers” and right-wing TV and radio stars to offer them private briefings and information sessions with Vice President Mike Pence and other top administration officials, The Daily Beast has learned.

The communications strategy began backstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual gathering that takes place just outside of Washington, D.C., and which happened to have an attendee diagnosed with coronavirus this year. The direct outreach occurred on Thursday, Feb. 27—the day after Trump tapped Pence to lead the task force. There, the vice president hosted an informal briefing on COVID-19 and the administration’s latest efforts, with several right-leaning personalities with large followings on Twitter and other social media platforms, according to a source with direct knowledge of the gathering.


The following Wednesday, Pence hosted another closed-door meeting with conservative “influencers,” with this one lasting for roughly an hour in the vice president’s office on White House grounds. The meeting was helmed by senior Trump administration officials such as Pence and Marc Short, the vice president’s chief of staff who previously served as Trump’s legislative affairs director.

According to three people with knowledge of the meeting, attendees included Fox New fixture and prolific MAGA tweeter Dan Bongino; former Trump adviser and current “War Room: 2020” podcast host Jason Miller; Newsmax TV host and Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer; former White House official and Sinclair “must-run” commentator Boris Epshteyn; Sinclair anchor and ex-Fox News host Eric Bolling; and former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), a Trump surrogate.

[Chainfire]

1. That makes sense

Make sure that everyone is on the same page when blaming Obama and praising Trump for the spread of the virus. Keep those lies consistent.

[C_U_L8R]

3. They're treating a health crisis as a messaging opportunity

Their deceptive tweets will do absolutely nothing to save lives.

[PA Democrat]

4. The amount of damage these a-holes have already done is unforgivable.

More people will suffer and die because of how they downplayed the risk on coronavirus; how they have excused the abysmal failure of the Trump administration to take aggressive action earlier.

We lost valuable time and they share in the blame.

[uponit7771]

5. Trump is siding with the virus

[Baked Potato]

6. It's all just a big WWE event.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. Oh dear lord

*What* are they being told?!