Despite the growing death toll in the U.S. from the coronavirus, President Trump has shifted his rhetoric to advocating for the sooner-rather-than-later reopening of state economies, while shifting blame for the pandemic's spread on the media, China and what he says is the unpreparedness of governors and his predecessors.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal this Friday, Michael C. Bender and Rebecca Ballhaus report that Trump is bothered over the growing blame his administration of facing over the slow response to the outbreak in its early days, and is devising a strategy to paint the opposite impression.
"He has asked White House aides for economic response plans that would allow him to take credit for economic successes while providing enough flexibility to place the fault for any failures on others," they write. '"People have made clear to him that’s an impossible goal, just two completely contradictory goals,' said one person in contact with the president. 'But I’m not sure he’s convinced.'"
According to sources speaking to WSJ, Trump is starting to use his coronavirus press briefings to "get rid of pent-up energy."
“You can’t dismiss the impact these kinds of things have on him,” on source told WSJ. “He has enormous emotional reactions, and his view is he has to come out and fight every day, not to persuade the media or convince Democrats, but to talk directly to conservative media.”
Read the full report over at The Wall Street Journal.
