Maddow: No Reason to Broadcast Trump Press Conferences If He Keeps Lying

Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show Friday night went through a list of inaccurate statements made by President Donald Trump regarding the coronavirus outbreak and the government’s response to it.

Maddow cited Trump’s comments about the virus being well-contained, about 1.4 million tests being available by this week, about Google launching a website with testing information, and about the Navy sending ships to both coasts to treat patients, just to name a few.

“[Trump] loves saying things like that because that would be a lovely thing to tell people, unless of course, that’s not true, and telling people a fairytale like that is cruel and harmful and needlessly diverting and wildly irresponsible from anyone in any leadership role,” Maddow said. “It would be wildly irresponsible if someone said that to you from a barstool if we could go to bars anymore, but to get from the presidential podium — nevertheless, he keeps doing it.”

“We should inoculate ourself against the harmful impact of these ongoing false promises and false statements by the president, by recognizing that when he’s talking about the coronavirus epidemic, more often than not, he is lying,” Maddow continued. “Even when he’s talking about what he has done or what he will do, he’s consistently lying and giving you happy talk that is stuff that the federal government isn’t actually doing.”

“If it were up to me, and it’s not, I would stop putting those briefings on live TV, not out of spite but because it’s misinformation,” Maddow suggested. “If the president does end up saying anything true, you can run it as tape. But if he keeps lying like he has been every day on stuff this important, we should — all of us — stop broadcasting, honestly. It is going to cost lives.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.