Donald Trump has thrown an extraordinary temper tantrum on live television, lambasting a reporter who challenged him for raising hopes about a coronavirus treatment.
Peter Alexander, White House correspondent at NBC News, asked the US president: “What do you say to Americans, who are watching you right now, who are scared?”
Erupting in anger, Trump unleashed a tirade: “I say that you’re a terrible reporter. That’s what I say. I think it’s a very nasty question and I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people. ”
The outburst came at Friday’s White House coronavirus taskforce briefing, at which Trump announced a restriction on non-essential travel across the US-Mexico border as well as stricter controls on undocumented migrants.
The president – who repeatedly downplayed the threat early in the global outbreak – has this week been hyping an anti-malarial drug, chloroquine, as a possible therapeutic treatment .
“It may work, it may not work,” he said on Friday. “I feel good about it. It’s just a feeling. I’m a smart guy… We have nothing to lose. You know the expression, ‘What the hell do you have to lose?’ ”
This was originally his campaign pitch to African Americans.
Yet Trump’s “feeling”, on which he so often relies, was confronted by science when Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cautioned that evidence of chloroquine’s benefits against coronavirus is “anecdotal” and It should not be viewed as a miracle cure.
“Fundamentally, I think it probably is going to be safe, but I like to prove things first,” Fauci said.
Alexander asked the president: “Is it possible that your impulse to put a positive spin on things may be giving Americans a false sense of hope?”
The president retorted: “No I don’t think so… It may work, it may not work. I feel good about it. That’s all it is, it’s a feeling. ”
It was then Alexander asked for Trump’s message to people who are feeling scared and the president snapped: “I say that you’re a terrible reporter.”
He added: “You’re doing sensationalism… That’s really bad reporting. You ought to get back to reporting. ”
Trump claimed, “I’ve been right a lot,” and barked at Alexander: “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
Other correspondents asked Trump why he was assailing a reporter during a national crisis.
Trump replied: “I think Peter is – you know, I’ve dealt with Peter for a long time. And I think Peter is not a good journalist when it comes to fairness. This is the time to come together. But coming together is much harder when we have dishonest journalists. ”
Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, was asked what message such criticism sends to the rest of the world. He merely echoed his boss’s dissatisfaction with the media. He also joined Trump in using the phrase “Chinese virus”.
Introducing Pompeo, Trump referred to “the deep state department”, referring to a favorite conspiracy theory which holds that a network of bureaucrats and intelligence officials exists to frustrate the president’s agenda, but which Steve Bannon, who has promoted the theory , has said is for “nut cases” .
On the podium, Dr Fauci glanced at the president, smiled ruefully, brushed his brow and rubbed his jaw in thought.
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