Trump Abuses Press Conference, Uses It as a Campaign Rally

It was a real spectacle.  At President Trump's now daily press conferences on the COVID-19 pandemic, he began by playing a video for all who were present; a video that looked an awful lot like a campaign commercial.  Two networks, CNN and MSNBC, cut away from the press conference at that point, realizing that Trump was not only playing them, but had crossed a serious ethical line in using government resources to make a personal political advertisement.

But that's not all.  Insisting that his Administration had done an excellent job managing the COVID-19 crisis, he refused to let reporters just finish their questions.  Questions with even a hint of criticism were met with ad hominem attacks and attempts to shout down the inquiring reporter.  One reporter who deserves accolades for not giving into the President's intimidation tactics, and continuing to press him to answer for his complete inaction and misleading public statements from February through mid-March, was Paula Reid of CBS News.

As if that were not enough, when it came time to talk about when we will know that it is time re-open the country, Trump made the astonishing assertion that he has final authority, even over the governors.  So, when Trump, using only his instinct, decides that it's safe to restart the economy, he can just countermand state officials, like Governor Newsom and Governor Cuomo, and render their stay-at-home orders invalid.  Please.  Read the Tenth Amendment again.  Our Constitution doesn't work that way.

There was so much wrong with the President's press conference. Let's just go back and highlight some of the issues.

First, the President made it very clear that he was reacting to an article from the New York Times that was published on Saturday, April 11, 2020, entitled, "He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus."  Through the article, a group of New York Times reporters document how Trump had been warned of the potentially devastating spread of SARS-CoV2 (colloquially called "the coronavirus," the  virus that causes COVID-19) could be, but downplayed the danger to the public for several weeks before taking aggressive action.

Trump, of course, has a very fragile ego, and has never been able to take criticism.  This has been a real obstacle to effective government action.  With regard to his response to COVID-19, Trump has consistently rated his response as a 10 out of 10, always referring to his decision to suspend the entry of foreigners who had been to China in the fourteen days prior to attempting to enter the United States.  He refers to his executive order as his China travel ban.

The problem is that he relied on his so-called travel ban for weeks as his only action.  As many have argued, this was just a measure to buy time.  The virus was so contagious, an outbreak in the United States was unavoidable.  Trump should have used the time he bought with his immigration powers to push for the readiness of the country.  Such actions would have included using his authority pursuant to the Defense Production Act to order American businesses to prioritize medical supplies and equipment necessary to fight the virus, such as ventilators, surgical masks and hand sanitizer.  He could have used the bully pulpit to warn the American people to ready themselves for the upcoming outbreak, and rallied against hoarding and price gouging.  Instead, he continued to brag about his China travel ban.

To punish those evil reporters for doubting his unique wisdom, Trump made all present at the White House press conference watch a video which started with a clip from Fox News, criticizing other media outlets for downplaying the seriousness of the virus.  The irony of this was completely lost on the President.  Indeed, many have considered whether Fox News could be sued because it echoed the President's message that the coronavirus was not going to be a big deal, that the flu was deadlier, and that the media hype was all just a hoax to derail his presidency.

Trump then appeared to take perverse pleasure when the video turned to a recording by New York Times reporter, Maggie Haberman, who contributed to the April 11th article critical of Trump, saying that he was widely criticized for his China travel ban.

The quote came from a New York Times podcast dated March 25, 2020.  It was just a small snippet of the half hour show.  The point that Haberman made was that it took Trump so long to take any action after his China travel ban.  Even after he took action and declared a national emergency, he started to listen to his economic advisors, who wanted him to open the economy back up by Easter.  Which meant that until Dr. Fauci and the medical experts stepped in, the President almost undid everything that the health officials was advising him to do to keep the virus in check.  After the press conference, Haberman tweeted a photo of the transcript of the podcast, in which she compared Trump's China travel ban to President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" moment.

To those paying close attention, the video that Trump showed reporters screams Haberman's point.  The video displays a timeline of the President's action.  Conspicuously absent from that timeline was any action by the White House between January 31, when he announced his China travel ban, and March, when Trump announced a similar ban on foreigners coming from most European countries.  The fact remains, while the first case appeared in the United States on January 20, COVID-19 surged in South Korea, Iran and Italy.  Health care experts took to the air waves to admonish the United States to prepare for the eventual onslaught of cases. Trump did nothing.  Worse, he called the hype over the virus nothing but a Democratic hoax. 

In February, Trump downplayed the danger that the virus posed to the public health, and falsely reassured the American people that it would not be a problem here.  On February 14, Trump claimed that there were a small number of cases in the United States, which he estimated to be around twelve, and stated that many of them were getting better.  On February 19, he claimed that when April came around, the warmer weather would have a negative effect on the virus.  On February 24, he bragged that the virus was "very much under control in the USA," and that the "Stock Market [is] starting to look good to me."  On February 26, Trump claimed that there were only fifteen people with the virus in the United States, and that within a couple of days, that number would be down to zero.  On February 28, Trump said, "One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear."

On February 29, the first American died of COVID19.

But even that first American death did not temper the President's rhetoric.  On March 4, Sean Hannity interviewed Donald Trump.  Trump made the audacious claim that based on nothing more than his hunch he believed that the death rate was not as high as that reported by the World Health Organization.  He further claimed that people were having minor symptoms and even going to work with these symptoms, and not visiting a doctor.  Never mind that even when exhibiting no symptoms, a person infected with the virus could spread it through close contact with others.  Thus, going to work while showing symptoms would be ill-advised.

The record of the President's failure is stark and undeniable.

Well, unless you are Donald Trump.  After all, this is the man who boldly altered a National Weather Service map with a Sharpie to defend his claim that Alabama was in Hurricane Dorian's path, when it wasn't.  We shouldn't be surprised at his latest attempt of gas lighting.  Of course, while such bold-face lies and deceptions have become commonplace for he the White House, it should continue to outrage Americans who expect more from our Government.

The more we expect should include ethical behavior by our President and his staff.  The very first question after the presentation of this video came from CNN's Jim Acosta. who asked whether government staff worked on the video.  A second reporter asked if White House staff had produced the video.

Oblivious to the ethical ramifications of those questions, Trump proudly declared that White House staff had indeed put the video together.  Public resources were used for the personal political aims of the President.  Again.

And AGAIN, Trump misled the American people not only over his inaction, but over the responses of his opponents.  For example, Trump has repeatedly referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi protesting his China travel ban in Chinatown, calling it xenophobic.  But recall, around the same time that Trump issued his China travel ban, he also expanded his Muslim travel ban to six Muslim-majority African countries.  It was this Muslim travel ban that Pelosi and other Democrats called xenophobic.  And while Pelosi did appear in San Francisco's Chinatown in an attempt to promote more people to support Chinese businesses, that was a reaction to Trump's insistence to calling SARS-Cov2 "the China virus."  In doing so, Trump, although unwittingly, was promoting racism and bigotry against Asian-Americans.  Pelosi was attempting to countermand such bigotry.

Of course such details have escaped Trump's bombasticity, as intentionally conflating criticism over his Mulsim travel ban with reaction to his China travel ban serves his purpose of attempting to elevate his leadership actions in the face of such stark inaction.

As if his efforts to repaint history were not enough, he further had the audacity to claim that he has "total authority" over when the nation can return to business as normal after its struggle against COVID-19.  It took until March 13 for Trump to declare a national emergency, and then only in response to the WHO proclaiming COVID-19 a pandemic.  By then, multiple states had already started closing schools and issuing emergency orders.  Indeed, lacking effective guidance from the federal Government, the Governors have had to take the lead in marshalling the medical resources necessary to fight this disease, and ordering residents to avid social contact so as to slow the stress being placed on medical professionals. 

While Trump may want to believe he has such authority, the Constitution provides a completely different answer.  As Governor Cuomo noted in a television interview on the following day, it was the states that created the federal Government, not the other way around.  Moreover, the federal Government's power is limited by the terms of the Constitution.  In this regard, the Tenth Amendment provides that any power not specifically given to the federal Government through the Constitution is reserved to the state.  One such power is the police power, which is the power to prescribe rules for the health, safety and welfare and welfare of the state's residents.  Should Trump attempt to countermand state stay-at-home orders before the Governors are ready to lift them, he will find a legal battle on his hands, one that has been settled for over a century and a half.

On display at yesterday's press conference was a frustrated narcissist, throwing a hissy fit because he is being called out on his ineffectual governance.  It is a point that cannot go unanswered.  He must be prevented from using his press conferences as a replacement for his political campaign rallies during this time when large gatherings of people are unwise.  More networks need to cut away from his press conferences when they turn into his personal political showcase, and more reporters need to continue to press the President to answer for his inaction which has led to strained medical resources in the fight against COVID-19.

By: William J. Kovatch, Jr.

References

Blake, Aaron, "A timeline of Trump playing down the coronavirus threat," The Washington Post (March 17, 2020).

Borio, Luciana and Gottlieb, Scott, "Act Now to Prevent an American Epidemic," The Wall Street Journal (January 28, 2020).

Bryson Taylor, Derrick, "A Timeline of the Coronavirus," The New York Times (March 19, 2020).

Chait, Jonathan, "Trump: 'When Somebody's President of the United States, the Authority is Total,'" The Intelligencer (April 13, 2020).

CNN, "Gov, Andrew Cuomo: We have a Constitution, not a king," YouTube video (April 14, 2020).

Dilanian, Ken, Lee,Carol E., De Luce, Dan, Strickler Laura and Khimm, Suzy, "Mismanagement, missed opportunities: How the White House bungled the coronavirus response," NBC News (March 14, 2020).

Egan, Lauren, "Trump calls coronavirus Democrats' 'New Hoax,'" NBC News (February 28, 2020).

Factbase, "Interview: Sean Hannity Interviews Donald Trump Via Telephone -- March 4, 2020."

Farley, Robert, "The Facts on Trump's Travel Restrictions," FactCheck.org (March 6, 2020).

Hale Spencer, Saranac, "Video Misconstrues Pelosi Tweet on 'Un-American Travel Ban,'" FactCheck.org (April 3, 2020).

Knox, Liam, "Civil rights groups condemn Trump's travel-ban expansion to six African countries," NBC News (February 27, 2020).

Lipton, Eric, Sanger, David E., Haberman, Maggie, Shear, Michael D., Mazzetti, Mark and Barnes, Julian E., "He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus," The New York Times (April 11, 2020).

Mackey, Robert, "Trump PR Stunt Falls Flat, as White House Video Exposes His Failure to Prepare for Pandemic," The Intercept (April 14, 2020).

NBC Bay Area Staff, "Nancy Pelosi Visits San Francisco's Chinatown Amid Coronavirus Concerns," NBC Bay Area (February 24, 2020).

The New York Times, "Raring to Go by Easter," Podcast including a discussion by reporter Maggie Habberman (March 25, 2020).

The New York Times, "Trump Insists He Has 'Total Authority" to Supersede Governors," (April 13, 2020).

World Health Organization, "Naming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it."

Angry Over Pelosi’s Political Stunt? Please, Get Over Yourself

Under Sharia law, mutilating the Koran or any piece of paper with a verse from the Koran is blasphemy. This is a very serious charge. In Pakistan, blasphemy is punishable by death.

At the State of the Union address this week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi engaged in a political stunt that has Trump supporters up in arms. Prominently seated behind the President, once Trump finished his speech, Pelosi, in a manner visible to television audiences, ripped a written copy of the State of the Union Address Trump had handed her before he started speaking, into pieces.

Let me be clear, I was annoyed by Pelosi’s stunt and the lack of civility it showed. Of course, I was equally annoyed at the lack of civility Trump showed when he refused to take Pelosi’s outstretched hand when he arrived at the podium of the House chamber.  Indeed, with the behavior of some Democrats during the speech, and the awarding of Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, there were enough embarrassing political stunts to go around.

But Trump supporters are going overboard in their criticism of Pelosi. By ripping her copy of the speech, Trump supporters have claimed that she ripped apart the Tuskegee Airman who was a guest of the President, mourning families, a family reunited with their service member’s father, and others who were mentioned in the speech.  Indeed, the outrage expressed by Trump supporters is tantamount to the way Muslims treat someone who has ripped the Koran.  Get over yourselves. A copy of the State of the Union Address is not a religious text.  It is not some revered artifact that deserves praise in and of itself.  It’s a set of papers with words written on them that were read out loud by the President. Let’s not start treating the President as some kind of infalible demigod whose every word must be heeded and venerated.  That’s not how democracy works.  Indeed, our democracy is protected by our Constitution, which includes a First Amendment that protects freedom of speech, particularly political speech. And that is what Pelosi engaged in, even if it were crude and crass.

Likewise, Trump supporters are now citing 18 U.S.C. § 2071, which criminalizes the mutilation or destruction of an official record of the United States.  The problem with this argument is that the copy of the State of the Union Address handed to Pelosi was not an official public record. Pursuant to the Presidential Records Act of 1978, all documents from the White House are filed with the National Archives. The document filed with the National Archives is the official record.  Thus, the copy of the speech Trump handed to Pelosi, while it is given to her out of tradition, is really nothing more than a courtesy copy. The law, 18 U.S.C. § 2071, is meant to protect records filed with U.S. courts and the National Archives from destruction, not every copy of a presidential speech printed out, even if signed by the President.

Quite frankly, the belly-aching over Pelosi’s political stunt is nothing more than political showmanship itself.  It represents some of what is wrong with U.S. politics today.  U.S. politics has become more about the dog and pony show, instead about the substance of policy. Given the fact that Trump routinely insults, bullies and ridicules his political opponents, it’s not like either he or his supporters have room to complain.

Instead of trying to score mere symbolic points, politicians ought to be deliberating substantively what policy is best for the American people.  Wasting this much time and effort over silly political stunts does nobody any good and merely perpetuates the deep division we already have among Americans.

By:  William J. Kovatch, Jr.

Daniel Phillips, Black Hebrew Israelites Bear Blame for Friday’s Confrontation with Catholic Students

It seems that whenever there is a clash with ethnic overtones, and some young men sporting red MAGA hats are involved, the knee jerk reaction is to blame the youth in MAGA garb. So automatic this reaction has become, that the original impression (Trump supporters are all evil, racist, violent and ignorant) lingers long after more evidence surfaces demonstrating blame belongs to numerous parties. 

Let’s take this incident that happened in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, during the March for Life Event. With so many people gathered already for political activism, the event attracted fringe elements of society attempting to publicize their agenda. One such group was the Black Hebrew Israelites. 

The Black Hebrew Israelites stood at the base of the steps, spewing racist, offensive hate. Their goal was to spark confrontation, at which they succeeded several times. 

Eventually, the Black Hebrew Israelites began an offensive roll of insults against the Catholic Church. At this point, the group begins to attract the attention of male students from Covington Catholic High School, many of whom happen to be wearing red MAGA hats.

The Black Hebrew Israelites then spews hate and insults directly at the students. The initial reaction was for the students to leave. Over the next twenty to twenty-five minutes, as the group continues to spew hatred, little by little, the student gather on the steps in back of and to the right of the group, keeping a distance of several yards.  (Some have reported that the students were waiting for buses.)

As the speakers begin to notice the growth in students in their audience, they target the students directly for an offensive tirade. The students respond by drowning out the speakers with sports cheers and chants. As the adrenaline flows, one attention-grabbing student runs to the front of his friends, and strips his shirt off as his friends scream in support. The boy then leads the groups in what appears to be a tribal-like cheer (the Haka?) that many sports teams have adopted as a show of intimidation. The crowd howls its approval. 

The crowd continues with a more popular and recognizable sports chant. It was at this point that Daniel Phillips, an activist for indigenous people’s rights, decided to intervene. Beating a rhythmic pattern on a hand-held drum, engaging in a chant, Phillips marched directly toward and then into the crowd of students. Phillips later stated he approached the students, and not the Black Hebrew Israelites, because the group of students was much larger and mostly white. 

As Phillips approached the students, they gave no ground. Phillips walked straight towards one student, who smirked, but who did not move as Phillips banged the drum in his face. The rest of the students reacted by chanting as well, and then clapping in time with the drum. 

The chant devolved into a chant made famous by the Florida State Seminoles, and popular for other teams with Native American mascots: The Chop. This includes the Atlanta Braves, where Deion Sanders brought the chant after attending FSU.

Certainly, this is not Christian behavior, and deserves a talk from Christian Youth leaders on how to respond to such aggressive behavior by others in a way that is consistent with Christian values and beliefs. But the worst thing the students did was to use sports chants popular with teams that have Native American mascots. The students were not the aggressors. 

Daniel Phillips must shoulder some blame for being unduly aggressive. He has himself admitted that he chose to talk toward and into the group of students because they were a larger group and mostly white. Absent from his analysis was the provocations consistently made by the Black Hebrew Israelites. The group had been spewing hatred aimed at numerous ethnicities, and religious groups. Yet, in the reporting, almost any recognition of this offense behavior, let alone condemnation of the group, is absent. For the mainstream press, it is enough that there was a confrontation and white kids involved wearing MAGA hats. Obviously, the Trump supporters must be to blame. 

By:  William J. Kovatch, Jr. 

Note:  I used to consider myself a Republican until Trump won the nomination in 2016. I am no supporter of Trump, or of the Republican Party, which appears to be full of nothing but sycophants. Nonetheless, I refuse to jump on a popular band wagon when a full analysis of the facts points in a different direction. The true problem with modern American journalism, I believe, is laziness. Just report the same line you were programmed to believe over and over. I pray greater objectivity comes back to American press soon.