Lindsey Graham Suggests Donald Trump Should Stop Daily Press Briefings, Says He ‘Drowns Out His Own Message’
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is joining a chorus of Donald Trump allies who are suggesting that the president needs to stop his daily coronavirus press briefings, The New York Times reports.
For the past few weeks, Trump has held daily press briefings in the White House, offering the latest updates on the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. However, by some measures, those press briefings provide less in the way of useful information and more in the way of self-aggrandizement and even misinformation or outright falsehoods.
“Trump has brandished all the familiar tools in his rhetorical arsenal: belittling Democratic governors, demonizing the media, trading in innuendo and bulldozing over the guidance of experts,” the report states.
Even Trump’s allies — like Sen. Graham — are starting to suggest that the president should consider dialing back the scope of his press briefings.
“[Trump] sometimes drowns out his own message,” Graham said, suggesting that perhaps the president should consider doing press briefings once per week instead of daily.
Similarly, Representative Susan Brooks of Indiana said the press briefings are “going on too long.” Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia has similar sentiments, saying the briefings were “going off the rails a little bit,” proposing that Trump should demur to health professionals.
At least one conservative media outlet has joined in the call to scale back the daily coronavirus press briefings as well. The Wall Street Journal posted an op-ed on Thursday in which the paper referenced Trump’s nickname for Adam Schiff — “shifty Schiff” — and his purported tendency to use his press briefings as an opportunity to belittle his adversaries.
“Covid-19 isn’t shifty Schiff. It’s a once-a-century threat to American life and livelihood,” the paper wrote.
As for Sen. Graham, he noted that Trump appears to be treating the daily coronavirus press briefings as something of a re-election platform, essentially using them to get a leg up on his likely Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.
“I told him your opponent is no longer Joe Biden — it’s this virus,” the senator said.
Another Trump ally, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that Trump’s daily press briefings are doing the exact opposite of what the president hopes — at least when it comes to getting re-elected. The official said the daily briefings are providing the Biden camp with “ammunition.”
The same adviser proposed that Trump should send Coronavirus Czar Mike Pence to lead the daily press briefings, since — unlike Trump — Pence is empathetic, prepared, and less prone to speaking off-the-cuff.
