Stop telecasting Trump’s ‘reality show’ briefings
President Trump’s briefings on COVID-19 are truly amazing. He has turned them into a spectacle. Not even this awful, deadly, scary virus has stopped Trump from his narcissistic behavior and lies.
One would expect the president to (a) tell us the truth (b) have us adhere to what the medical experts tell us (c) express some sympathy for the afflicted and some compassion for the families of the deceased. Instead, we have heard him complaining about being personally slighted by a few governors who refuse to kneel at his throne, of having the audacity to receive some aid from the federal government and not thanking Trump enough.
What we do repeatedly hear are his campaign slogans, vituperative responses to a reporter who doesn’t ask the “perfect question” that supports the concept that Trump himself has saved all of us from a raging pandemic. Just look at the numbers provided every day, telling a different story then what we heard from him the day before.
It is so obvious that he is worried predominately about the numbers on Wall Street and in his re-election bid. His first gambit was to open everything up by Easter, and maybe several hundred thousand more people would die, but the economy would start moving. What would a rational compassionate person choose: kick start the economy or wait until it is safe, saving thousands of lives? The idea of survival of the fittest probably appeals to Trump’s basic instincts.
Fortunately, his staff pushed him in the right direction.
As far as I am concerned, the networks should not continue to run Trump’s briefings if he is going to use the briefing for political campaigning and to spew misinformation. Get the reports from the medical professionals and let it go at that. Stop making Trump the headliner in the briefings, providing him with free media coverage.
The question is whether Trump’s new reality show should be financed by the TV networks. Are they obligated to broadcast Trump at his worst every day, especially considering lives are at stake and his content is either vitriolic or at best misinformation? What Trump says is not news. Rather, it is the new reality of a live, paid by TV Trump rally. The networks are providing Trump with the opportunity to say whatever he would like whether it is true or false for as long as he chooses to put on the act. Given the content, Trump does not deserve the perks that would normally come with being president.
If the coronavirus has not changed Trump, nothing will.
It is so obvious that the president is worried predominately about the numbers on Wall Street and in his re-election bid.