Trump has 'emerged as the chief agent of misinformation' on coronavirus epidemic: MSNBC guest

Appearing on MSNBC early Sunday morning, a writer for Vanity Fair identified Donald Trump as being the leader in misrepresenting the threat of the coronavirus sweeping the world, calling the president the "chief agent of misinformation."

Speaking with host Lindsey Reiser, writer Abigail Tracy was asked about reports that the president has been delaying preparations to deal with the growing pandemic and has been dismissing it as overblown.

With Reiser noting a New York Times report on the White House response, the MSNBC host began, "Debate raged within the administration over what to tell the public even as the government's scientists and leading health experts raised the alarms early and pushed for aggressive action, they faced resistance and doubt from the White House especially from the president because of spooking the financial market."

"What does this say about the President Trump administration and what are the optics for Americans across the country?" she asked her guest.

"I think, you know, there is an argument to be made about calm leadership in the face of a crisis. but what we're seeing from this administration is Donald Trump emerging as one of the chief agents of misinformation," Tracy explained. "I think trying to downplay this and not giving the American people a real sense as to precautions that they should be taking and the real kind of severity of what we're dealing is a major problem."

"As much as there might be these other officials within the administration who are properly responding to this or trying to set up protocols, the chief problem we have is the fact that the president of the United States is not really matching that messaging when he's speaking to the American people," she continued. "He's trying to downplay this. When we look at what's happened in other countries, this is going to get worse. we would benefit from a president addressing the threat as is it should be."

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