The silver lining for the Trump administration during this coronavirus pandemic: It makes for fabulous television, apparently. A real blockbuster. Must-see TV! Like, we’re talking “The Bachelor” and “Monday Night Football” ratings, according to data cited by the president.
In fact, “numbers are continuing to rise,” Trump tweeted, though he didn’t clarify whether he was referring to the number of coronavirus deaths in the U.S. or viewers of his press conferences.
Here’s his full thread:
Trump was pointing to an article from the New York Times but didn’t mention the primary angle of that story, which focused on whether networks should even air his addresses to the media because of the risk of the president spreading of false or misleading information.
The backlash was swift, and wasn’t just coming from the left:
While Trump was celebrating his TV audience, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Sunday that coronavirus could kill between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans and infect millions of people.
At last check, there were 137,294 coronavirus cases and 2,414 deaths in the United States, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.
