Trump Turns His Coronavirus Briefing Into A Full-On Propaganda Campaign

President Donald Trump turned his daily White House coronavirus briefing on Monday into a full-fledged propaganda campaign, attempting to rewrite history on his pandemic response with a low-quality video that paints him in a positive light.

The president had what could objectively be called a meltdown in the first half of the briefing, criticizing the news media, and specifically The New York Times , for accurately reporting that he was slow to effectively respond to the growing pandemic despite being warned early on by several aides and health experts about the need for aggressive action.

Before giving actual updates on the latest information about the virus, Trump surprised reporters by having the briefing rooms lights dimmed to show a video that began with a slide titled: The Media Minimized the Risk From the Start.

The propaganda video showed several cable reels of reporters and TV hosts downplaying the viruss risk in January and early February. The video then showed a timeline of the White Houses response to the pandemic, with Trumps first action being on Jan. 31, when he announced travel restrictions on passengers from China , where the virus is believed to have originated. (There is no ban on Europe or China, as Trump otherwise repeatedly alleges there are restrictions with many exemptions, including entire European countries.)

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW pic.twitter.com/eJCX9cZ1EO

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WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW pic.twitter.com/eJCX9cZ1EO
Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) April 13, 2020

The video then included audio of Times reporter Maggie Haberman, in which she said that Trump was widely criticized for halting flights from China in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. Haberman clarified on Twitter that the videos use of the audio was misleading because she had gone on to say that Trump treated that travel limitation as a Mission Accomplished moment.

And then he did basically nothing for over a month. Which was our story yesterday, Haberman tweeted, referring to a Times article about Trumps slow pandemic response.

The president is using audio of me on The Daily to bash my reporting in the paper (though Im so glad they listen to the Daily). Their use of the audio is misleading - I went on to say I said he treated that travel limitation as a Mission Accomplished moment.

Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 13, 2020","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Maggie Haberman","author_url":"https://twitter.com/maggieNYT","cache_age":86400,"description":"The president is using audio of me on The Daily to bash my reporting in the paper (though Im so glad they listen to the Daily). Their use of the audio is misleading - I went on to say I said he treated that travel limitation as a Mission Accomplished moment. 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The president is using audio of me on The Daily to bash my reporting in the paper (though Im so glad they listen to the Daily). Their use of the audio is misleading - I went on to say I said he treated that travel limitation as a Mission Accomplished moment.
Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 13, 2020

Trump has increasingly taken advantage of the briefings wide viewership at a time hes unable to hold reelection campaign rallies due to the pandemic. As the president increases the number of lies he tells every day, networks are beginning to cut away from the briefing to prevent the spread of sometimes dangerous misinformation, coming back to the briefing once the health experts begin to speak. Networks including MSNBC and CNN made the decision Monday to cut away from Trumps meltdown but not before providing viewers with a slew of chyrons accurately depicting the situation in the briefing room.

Four banners on @CNN over the last five minutes ... pic.twitter.com/UBxpCcY2vl

Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) April 13, 2020","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Kate Bennett","author_url":"https://twitter.com/KateBennett_DC","cache_age":86400,"description":"Four banners on @CNN over the last five minutes ... pic.twitter.com/UBxpCcY2vl Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) April 13, 2020\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Kate Bennett on 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Four banners on @CNN over the last five minutes ... pic.twitter.com/UBxpCcY2vl
Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) April 13, 2020

ABC White House correspondent Jon Karl asked Trump if government employees produced the campaign-style propaganda video, to which the president answered that a group in the office that includes social media director Dan Scavino just put some clips together.

I could give you Ill bet you I have over 100 more clips, even better than them, Trump said. They were just pieced together over the last two hours.

CBS White House correspondent Paula Reid pressed Trump on the propaganda video, asking what he did to help prevent the pandemic in the month between announcing travel restrictions from China and announcing that pharmaceutical companies were beginning to develop a vaccine.

The argument is that you bought yourself some time and you didnt use it to prepare hospitals and you didnt use it to ramp up testing, Reid said, as Trump called her disgraceful. Right now, literally 20 million people are unemployed. Tens of thousands of Americans are dead. How does this reel or this rant supposed to make people feel confident in an unprecedented crisis?

Here's video of @PaulaReidCBS grilling Trump on what his administration did in the month leading up to the coronavirus crisis.

\"You didn't use it to prepare hospitals. You didn't use it to ramp up testing.\" pic.twitter.com/3pvrn9EAug

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You didn't use it to ramp up testing.\" pic.twitter.com/3pvrn9EAug Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) April 13, 2020\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":675,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/amplify_video_thumb/1249828215687983104/img/hy0t1vz6wEksvBzt.jpg","thumbnail_width":1200,"title":"Oliver Darcy on 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Here's video of @PaulaReidCBS grilling Trump on what his administration did in the month leading up to the coronavirus crisis.

"You didn't use it to prepare hospitals. You didn't use it to ramp up testing." pic.twitter.com/3pvrn9EAug
Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) April 13, 2020

Your video has a complete gap, Reid continued, referring to the videos timeline jump from Feb. 6 to March 2. What did your administration do in February with the time that your travel ban bought you?

Trump responds by saying, A lot. Reid continued her questioning despite the president shouting over her, asking him what he did with the entire month he had to implement mitigation measures.

You know youre a fake. You know that, Trump told Reid, his latest in a series of attacks on female White House reporters.

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