President Donald Trump has backed off the daily coronavirus task force briefings that spanned the first few weeks of the nationwide quarantine but he suggested in a recent interview that they might return.
In a conversation with the New York Post, Trump said, “We set every record with those press conferences. Six million people all the time. You know we had tremendous numbers, literally, it was in Bret Baier’s slot, and we did like 30 in a row.”
He even speculated, “It was the highest-rated hour in cable television history. That’s what I heard. I don’t know if that’s true.”
The press conferences often featured Trump insulting members of the press. In one exchange, after an NBC reporter asked what he hopes to say to frightened Americans, Trump shot back, “You’re a terrible reporter.”
In one briefing, Trump took the podium and blasted an ABC reporter, saying, “You’re a third-rate reporter and what you just said is a disgrace.”
You're a third-rate reporter. What you just said is a disgrace … you will never make it" — Trump attacks @jonkarl pic.twitter.com/uEO9zB25nK
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 6, 2020
The president suggested to the New York Post that some of his advisors told him that his frequent barbs were turning people off, saying, “I was told that some people didn’t like the combative attitude so much. And I can a little bit understand that. But I would say from the standpoint of watching it and wanting to watch, that would be more interesting than having boring questions asked.”
He also told the outlet that he is planning to return to briefings, though he said that they would no longer be daily appearances.
Later in the interview, he added “A lot of people love when the press hits me, you know, when I go at it with the press — they like it … some people don’t like it. I have a feeling everybody likes it because, you know, it’s more exciting than sitting there falling asleep.”
Trump has been pushing for the country to reopen and he seems particularly upset that he has not been able to hold political rallies, telling the Post, “I think that would be a big — a big disadvantage to me if we didn’t, if we couldn’t have the rallies back.”
