Last week, Donald Trump announced that he would really like for the COVID-19 pandemic to be over and done with by April 12, so that he could see churches full of people on Easter. Because we know how very holy he is. However, given that this is now very clearly not at all a possibility, he is now walking that back a bit.
In a news conference Sunday night, Trump announced that the social distancing guidelines that were set to expire on Monday would be extended to April 30th, and that his new goal date for everything being okay is the first of June, saying "We can expect that by June 1st, we will be well on our way to recovery, we think by June 1st. A lot of great things will be happening."
With that being a slightly more realistic goal, perhaps you are thinking "Oh boy, does this mean Trump is growing up?" (just kidding, we know you are not thinking that), but no. Because during this press conference, when "PBS NewsHour" journalist Yamiche Alcindor asked him a question about all of the crap he was saying toi Hannity the other night about how he wasn't going to give resources to states with governors who are not "nice" to him, Trump went on a ridiculous tirade about Alcindor, yes, not being "nice" to him.
Via The Hill:
"Why don't you act in a little more positive? ... It's always get ya, get ya, get ya," Trump said to Alcindor. "You know what? That's why nobody trusts the media anymore."
"That's why you used to work for the [New York] Times and now you work for somebody else," he continued, speaking to Alcindor. "Look, let me tell you something. Be nice. Don't be threatening."
And of course, he's still not too keen on believing scientists.
Via CNN:
The scale of the outbreak was given stark urgency Sunday by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease specialist, who predicted on CNN that more than 100,000 Americans could eventually die from coronavirus with millions more infected.
Trump suggested during his briefing that he didn't believe the larger numbers Fauci had mentioned earlier in the day, and called him to the podium.
But Fauci only reiterated the figures he cited earlier.
He said it's "entirely conceivable" that more than a million people in the US could contract coronavirus, but added that mitigation and extending the distancing guidelines through April will hopefully curb those numbers.
Imagine having the ego to stand next to a scientist and say you, a person with no expertise in this area whatsoever, don't believe them, and then ask them to come up and talk like they're suddenly gonna change their mind and agree with you, the person who does not really know what they are talking about.
We all get not wanting to believe these things, and we're all hopeful that we won't be looking at 100,000 people dying. Hell, we'd all like this to be over April 12, too. Everyone wants things to get back to normal as soon as possible. But downplaying the threat right now is not just "aspirational," as Trump now claims his hopes for an April 12 recovery was, it is dangerous. Having hope is great, being reckless is not, and people are going to get reckless if they think they don't have to believe scientists.
It would be nice if we had a president who was more interested in setting a good example for people with this than he was in people being "nice" to him, but alas.
[CNN]
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Robyn Pennacchia is a brilliant, fabulously talented and visually stunning angel of a human being, who shrugged off what she is pretty sure would have been a Tony Award-winning career in musical theater in order to write about stuff on the internet. Follow her on Twitter at @RobynElyse
