Trump just wants to be 'the president on television' and he 'is not temperamentally equipped': CNN reporters
CNN White House reporter John Harwood and Dana Bash noted that President Donald Trump loves to be the president on television, but not exactly in real life.
"Wolf, what we saw tonight was the limitations of President Trump as a leader in a situation like this," said Harwood. "He is not temperamentally equipped to tell people, 'this is going to be hard. You need to stick with it.' Push delayed gratification as he says, and he's told us explicitly, he's a cheerleader. He wants to give good news, not bad news. He's someone who wants affirmation in the moment. So, what he says is-- 'light at the end of the tunnel. We have to open this country back up.' He knows people want to hear that."
He noted that when it comes to the dream drugs Trump wants to believe will work, there are serious side effects, which is why Trump refused to allow Dr. Anthony Fauci to talk about it.
"Anthony Fauci is the No. 1 infectious disease expert in the United States government," Harwood explained. "And the president saying, 'I'm not a doctor' touted this drug for an extended period of time in the briefing and not let the top doctor answer it. There's another piece of news, which is worrisome for the American people from our colleagues at Axios, reporting a major fight in the situation room yesterday between Peter Navarro, who is an economist, and Dr. Fauci over this point."
Harwood noted that Navarro is "on the fringe" in his economics profession, but he's hardly a doctor, much less an infectious diseases expert.
"Look, he is obviously very comfortable and very eager to be the president on television," said Bash. "The president talking for a very long time about things that may or may not actually have efficacy, like that drug, which I'll talk about in a second. But he likes to play the role of the guy in command. And it has been a gradual shift, but it's been a shift that he's been a couple of weeks where he has decided -- using his words, a couple of weeks ago -- he's a wartime president. He wants to be that guy. The problem is when he doesn't have news to give, and instead, he is pushing things that are absolutely not proven, it's not just a role. It is veering into the dangerous role."
Watch the panel discussion below: