Americans Know Trump Is ‘Selling Them,’ Not ‘Protecting Them’ With Coronavirus Briefings: Presidential Historian

Presidential historian Jon Meacham criticized President Donald Trump’s coronavirus press briefings, calling them “infomercials.”

Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Meacham said that the regular updates are self-serving in nature.

“I think these briefings are really infomercials more than briefings,” Meacham said. “[Trump] is constantly selling his own reaction to the crisis in the face of facts. And I think that ultimately what you’re seeing with the numbers is Americans at some intuitive level understanding that the president is selling them, he’s not protecting them.”

Shifting to the decision Trump now faces about when to “open up” the country, Meacham noted that the coronavirus is unlike any of the president’s prior adversaries.

“I think that one of the things he’s got to figure out politically here is this is a virus,” Meacham said. “The virus can’t be bullied. It can’t be dismissed.”

Watch the video above, via NBC.

William Vaillancourt

William Vaillancourt is a writer and editor from New Hampshire whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Progressive, Slate and Areo Magazine, among other places. He holds a BA in Political Science and History from Boston University.