Regardless of how you feel about him, it’s clear that it’s hard to predict exactly how President Donald Trump will behave in a given situation. For some, this may sound like a strange statement as he’s repeated enough of his signature tropes and went over his list of enemies enough times by now that it may feel like you can set your watch to his common mannerisms.
However, while it may be possible to predict what he’ll eventually say, the trouble is getting a sense of when he’ll actually say it. And while many Americans may hope that the emerging threat of the COVID-19 virus would be enough to keep him on task and focused on the issues at hand, the full clip seems to indicate that he remains as unpredictable as ever.
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On March 23, the White House held an information session regarding the U.S. government’s ongoing response to the CIVID-19 pandemic.
For the middle portion of this briefing , Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx outlined simultaneous mitigation and containment efforts needed throughout various states.
Before she left the podium, however, she fielded a question from Trump himself.
The question was ostensibly about social distancing, but it was immediately clear that Trump’s focus was on the, as he put it, “very angry media all around this room.”
He claimed representatives from this “angry media” wanted seats in the briefing room, but had to be turned away due to social distancing.
From here, he turned to his actual question, in which he wondered, “Will there ever be a time when all of those really angry, angry people, who don’t like me much to start off with but now they really don’t like me” fill those seats again.
He further asked if the seats will ever be “full to the brim like they used to be where people are almost sitting on each other’s lap.”
He also seemed to suggest that others were wanting to get in and jealous of the reporters present, but ultimately wondered if the now limited reporter presence will persist forever.
Throughout Trump’s question, Dr. Birx and others present appear a little uncomfortable.
Nonetheless, she answered with a general statement about how social distancing has led people to reconsider and change the way they’re used to behaving in the interest of preserving public health.
Apparently, she wasn’t particularly concerned about how angry the media is.
Twitter user @NikkiMcR shared Trump’s question to the platform, which was then retweeted with additional commentary by CNN’s Jake Tapper.
The extent of the president’s question is available in the full video.
Information about the coronavirus pandemic is rapidly changing and Diply is committed to providing the most recent data as it becomes available. Some of the information in this story may have changed since publication, and we encourage readers to use online resources from CDC and WHO to stay up to date on the latest information surrounding COVID-19
