Without Trump at the coronavirus briefings, America would get more information from the experts

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Philip Bump

A frustrated President Trump on Saturday used Twitter to rationalize walking away from the daily coronavirus news briefings that, multiple times this week alone, he had praised as being ratings hits.

Link to tweet

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What, indeed, is the purpose of a news briefing where reporters can ask unfiltered questions about the single most urgent problem that the country has faced in decades? Well, its purpose is, presumably, to provide information to the media and, by extension, the public. It is not to serve as a substitute platform for a politician used to regular adrenaline jolts from rallies of cheering supporters.

Earlier this month, we reported Trump was particularly poorly suited to be the lead voice for the country on this subject. Polling from Kaiser Family Foundation established that, of the possible vectors for information from the administration, Trump was the least trusted to provide reliable information on the coronavirus pandemic. The media didn’t do great, either, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Anthony S. Fauci, a leading authority on Trump’s task force, were broadly seen as trustworthy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=

A Washington Post analysis of the briefings since April 6, though, found 60 percent of the time during which administration officials and guests of the White House spoke at the briefings was spent with Trump at the lectern. Vice President Pence, head of the task force, constituted about 13 percent of the total. Fauci and Deborah Birx, another medical expert on the task force, combined for about 14 percent. A slew of others, mostly officials working on distribution of materials or testing expansion, made up the other 12 percent.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/26/without-trump-coronavirus-briefings-america-would-have-rely-information-experts/

[Newest Reality]

1. Wow.

The cognitive dissonance that the chart indicates for Republicans must be rather debilitating.

I commend them on their resilience because I think most people would just crack and have a psychotic episode...oh, wait...