On March 29, Trump tweeted multiple times to brag about his press conferences’ ratings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because the “Ratings” of my News Conferences etc. are so high, “Bachelor finale, Monday Night Football type numbers” according to the @nytimes, the Lamestream Media is going CRAZY. “Trump is reaching too many people, we must stop him.” said one lunatic. See you at 5:00 P.M.!
“President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ Numbers are continuing to rise…
On that day, the United States reported a total of over 161,000 confirmed cases and 3,000 deaths, more than 9/11.
He later again boasted of his television ratings on April 21, when the US had 824,229 confirmed cases and suffered 45,536 deaths.
I’ve had great “ratings” my whole life, there’s nothing unusual about that for me. The White House News Conference ratings are “through the roof”(Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale , @nytimes) but I don’t care about that. I care about going around the Fake News to the PEOPLE!
During an interview with Howard Stern in 2008, Trump explained his aversion to blood with a story about when he saw an elderly man fall during a charity ball at Mar-a-Lago.
I was at Mar-a-Lago and we had this incredible ball, the Red Cross Ball, in Palm Beach, Florida. And we had the Marines. And the Marines were there, and it was terrible because all these rich people, they’re there to support the Marines, but they’re really there to get their picture in the Palm Beach Post…
So you have all these really rich people, and a man, about 80 years old—very wealthy man, a lot of people didn’t like him—he fell off the stage. So what happens is, this guy falls off right on his face, hits his head, and I thought he died. And you know what I did? I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t, you know, he was right in front of me and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him… he’s bleeding all over the place, I felt terrible. You know, beautiful marble floor, didn’t look like it. It changed color. Became very red. And you have this poor guy, 80 years old, laying on the floor unconscious, and all the rich people are turning away. ‘Oh my God! This is terrible! This is disgusting!’ and you know, they’re turning away. Nobody wants to help the guy. His wife is screaming—she’s sitting right next to him, and she’s screaming.
What happens is, these 10 Marines from the back of the room… they come running forward, they grab him, they put the blood all over the place—it’s all over their uniforms—they’re taking it, they’re swiping [it], they ran him out, they created a stretcher. They call it a human stretcher, where they put their arms out with, like, five guys on each side. I was saying, ‘Get that blood cleaned up! It’s disgusting!’ The next day, I forgot to call [the man] to say he’s OK. It’s just not my thing.”
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nadia Murad visited the White House to speak with Trump and plead for help for her Yazidi people. She had been tortured and sold into sex slavery by ISIS, and even after ISIS’ demise, 95,000 Yazidi refugees couldn’t return home because of ongoing struggles between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments.
Trump had been disinterested throughout the meeting, even as Murad recounted, “All this happened to me. They killed my mom, my six brothers. They left behind them.” Trump asked, “Where are they now?” Murad replied, “They killed them. They are in the mass grave in Sinjar, and I’m still fighting just to live in safe. Please do something.” “I know the area very well,” Trump replied. “I’m going to look into it very strongly.”
Trump then asked why she received the Nobel Prize, about which he had to again explain what she had endured.
The Yazidi people and their plight became worldwide news in 2014, when they were forced to flee their homes in the face of an ISIS offensive. 40,000 men, women, and children were surrounded in the Sinjar Mountains until the Obama administration authorized air-strikes and drops of aid to prevent genocide.
Dr. Robert Redfield, appointed to head the Center for Disease Control in 2018, had a long and controversial history with his approach to AIDS.
Dr. Robert Redfield / Wikipedia
During his tenure as a Major at the Walter Reed Medical Institute, Dr. Redfield was one of the architects of Army policy regarding AIDS. It included mandatory testing with no confidentiality, and those that tested positive were quarantined, faced various administrative punishments, or were dishonorably discharged. Redfield explained, “The reason we have done what we have done is that we think it’s good medicine – and it’s medicine that might work in the civilian sector, as well.” He was a proponent of H.R. 2788 that sought to allow HIV testing without consent and force states to have doctors report the names of positive cases.
Redfield wrote an introduction to the book Christians in the Age of AIDS, which read:
It is time to reject the temptation of denial of the AIDS/HIV crisis; to reject false prophets who preach the quick-fix strategies of condoms and free needles; to reject those who preach prejudice; and to reject those who try to replace God as judge.
He also regularly denounced use of condoms and needle exchange programs to prevent its spread throughout his career. The CDC says that proper use of condoms can reduce risk of HIV transmission.
Upon taking office, Redfield claimed that his views had since changed.
Redfield’s predecessor, Brenda Fitzgerald, was appointed by Trump in 2017 and resigned after a report of conflicts of interests involving her investments, including various tobacco stocks.
Vice President Mike Pence, leader of the COVID-19 task force, also has a controversial record with public health and science.
In the video, Biden says, “Because we cannot re-elect … we cannot win this re-election … Excuse me, we can only re-elect Donald Trump.” The video cut the rest of what Biden said, “We can only re-elect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here. It’s gotta be a positive campaign, so join us.”
It is the first video marked as manipulated by Twitter since they announced such measures.
The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, “The risk is low to the average American.”
In 2018, the White House global health security team, an office within the National Security Council, was disbanded. When asked about its closure amid the COVID19 pandemic, Trump replied, “Well, I just think it’s a nasty question…I don’t know anything about it. I mean, you say we did that. I don’t know anything about it.”
When the reporter asked to confirm that he didn’t know about a reorganization of the National Security Council, Trump continued, “It’s the administration, perhaps they do that, let people do, you used to be with a different newspaper than you are now, you know things like that happen.”
When the reporter persisted, her audio was cut as Trump said, “we’re doing a great job.”
While the original pandemic team was disbanded, it was then restructured into what was intended to be a leaner and more effective organization. John Bolton, Trump’s national security advisor from April 2018 to September 2019, stated that the change did not reduce the administration’s effectiveness against COVID-19. Bolton published The Room Where It Happened in June 2020 about his time in the administration, which sought to block its release.
Claims that streamlining NSC structures impaired our nation's bio defense are false. Global health remained a top NSC priority, and its expert team was critical to effectively handling the 2018-19 Africa Ebola crisis. The angry Left just can't stop attacking, even in a crisis.
The 2020 federal budget proposal for 2021 also included cuts to the Center for Disease Control. During a hearing about the proposal on March 10, 2020, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed that they still sought the same cuts to the CDC. On that day, the United States had over 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID19.
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains – Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)…..
Trump also falsely claimed that chloroquine had been approved by the FDA for treating COVID-19.
Hydroxychloroquine, a less toxic derivative of chloroquine, is an anti-malaria and arthritis medication. Azithromycin is an anti-bacterial drug intended to defend against secondary infections. They both have risk of various side effects. The more severe for hydroxychloroquine include allergic reactions, hypoglycemia, permanent eye problems, nerve damage, psychosis, seizures, and heart failure.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, flatly denied that there was any conclusive evidence to support the claim, noting that no clinical trials have been completed. Fauci explained during a subsequent press conference, “You really can’t make any definitive statement about it.” Still, Trump continued to express optimism about its efficacy. “May work, may not work, but I feel good about it,” Trump said.
The World Health Organization has not approved use of the drug for COVID-19. Its Director General noted, “small, observational and non-randomized studies will not give us the answers we need. Using untested medicines without the right evidence could raise false hope, and even do more harm than good and cause a shortage of essential medicines that are needed to treat other diseases.”
Nevertheless, there has been a run on hydroxychloroquine, with reports of hoarding and border crossing into Mexico for purchases. A man died from ingesting cleaner that contained a chemical he confused with what Trump promoted.
In a later press conference, Trump said he may take the medication, even though he hadn’t yet asked his own doctors about it: “If it were me – in fact, I might do it anyway. I may take it, okay? I may take it. And I’ll have to ask my doctors about that, but I may take it.”
Trump doubles down on hydroxychloroquine, saying he may take it as a prophylactic.
TRUMP: I may take it. Okay?… I’ll have to ask my doctors about that but I may take it.
Career scientists have warned that the science is unsettled + lupus patients currently need the drug. pic.twitter.com/ZBx6xHvvNG
Trump had a financial interest in Sanofi, a French company that produces the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine. While some trials showed promise, others didn’t; a Brazilian trial for chloroquine was halted when 11 patients died after 6 days.
In August, Trump’s testing chief Brett Giroir said it was time to “move on” from hydroxychloroquine.
During a COVID-19 press conference on March 20, 2020, NBC reporter Peter Alexander asked, “What do you say to Americans who are scared though? I guess, nearly 200 dead, 14,000 who are sick, millions, as you witnessed, who are scared right now. What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?”
Trump replied, “I say that you’re a terrible reporter. That’s what I say. I think that’s a very nasty question.” He went on to say that the reporter should be ashamed.
The exchange came after Trump promoted an unproven drug treatment, which Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, corrected.
When asked about what he expects of state governors after Trump previously said they should treat him well if they want assistance, Trump replied, “I want them to be appreciative.” He went on to say how the Washington governor Jay Inslee was a failed candidate that continually “chirps” to the administration. He also continued to reference Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as “the woman in Michigan.”
Referencing Pence, head of the COVID-19 task force, Trump continued, “I say Mike, don’t call the governor of Washington, you’re wasting your time with him. Don’t call the woman in Michigan. It doesn’t make any difference what happens. You know what I say? If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.”
“The federal government’s done a hell of a job,” he’d remarked during the conference.
