Donald Trump boasted again Tuesday that his coronavirus briefings get ‘Bachelor finale’ ratings then claimed he ‘didn’t care’ during a series of angry tweets about the media.
‘I’ve had great ‘ratings’ my whole life, there’s nothing unusual about that for me,’ Trump touted in a tweet Tuesday morning. ‘The White House News Conference ratings are ‘through the roof’ (Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale , @nytimes).’
‘[B]ut I don’t care about that,’ the president continued. ‘I care about going around the Fake News to the PEOPLE!’
The president’s comments come as the death toll in the U.S. nears 43,000 and there are more than 800,000 confirmed cases across the country, which is more than any other nation has reported.
Trump holds nearly-daily press briefings at the White House with members of his administration and his coronavirus task force to update the nation on their mitigation efforts, the progression of the disease in the U.S. and his reaction to the outbreak.
While the president lamented on Twitter that mainstream media outlets attack him every day, he also bragged of his high approval rating among Republicans, claiming it’s likely so high due to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Donald Trump boasted Tuesday morning the high viewership for his White House coronavirus press briefings, insisting that ratings are ‘through the roof’ and rival The Bachelor finale
The president holds nearly-daily press briefings at the White House on his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and ratings reports revealed that more than 10 million people regularly tune in
He also railed against ‘fake news’ for treating him unfairly
The president in his Tuesday morning Twitter rant also touted his approval rating among Republicans, claiming it’s at 96 per cent
Trump bragged that his briefings rival the viewership of major network television events, like the finale of The Bachelor, which millions of people watch every season, and Monday Night Football
The president’s boasting comes as the U.S. death toll from coronavirus nears 43,000 Tuesday morning and there are more than 800,000 confirmed cases
‘It is amazing that I became President of the United States with such a totally corrupt and dishonest Lamestream Media going after me all day, and all night,’ Trump claimed.
‘Either I’m really good, far better than the Fake News wants to admit, or they don’t have nearly the power as once thought!’ he continued in the Twitter rant Tuesday morning.
He wrote in another tweet: ‘96% Approval Rating in the Republican Party. Thank you! This must also mean that, most importantly, we are doing a good (great) job in the handling of the Pandemic.’
A Gallup Poll tracker of the president’s approval shows that in the two week period between April 1-14, Trump’s approval rating within his own Party was at 93 per cent.
The president’s approval has seen slight spikes in the past few months in the wake of the coronavirus crisis – likely due to his briefings, which in the beginning were lauded as a change of pace from his usual remarks and interactions with the press.
Many praised the president for appearing somber and more serious than usual during the briefings.
That approval, however, appears to also fluctuate with the markets, which have seen another drop off this week.
On Monday the DOW saw about a 500 point drop as lawmakers still had not reached a deal to replenish the payment protection program (PPP), which provides relief to small businesses struggling in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
Trump has asserted he wants to get the country up and running again by May 1 to kickstart the economy and get people back to work as unemployment levels reached an all-time-high after more than 22 million people filed for benefits in the last four weekly filing periods.
All major networks air the president’s briefings, which regularly garners around 10 million viewers according to Nielsen ratings. The press conferences, however, gain even more views through live-streamed sources on YouTube and news sites that stream the briefings.
Many times some networks, like CNN and MSNBC, pull away from the briefings after airing the first part.
The president’s appearances in the James S. Brady Briefing Room can sometimes span longer than two hours.
Trump boasted a New York Times report last month that revealed the briefings viewership rivals that of The Bachelor finale and Monday Night football.
Trump’s coronavirus updates attract an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, according to the March times report, which is roughly the same viewership a season finale of The Bachelor sees.
Nearly 12.2 million people watched a Monday evening briefing in late March on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC combined – a number that rivals viewership for Monday Night Football.
A bit more than 9 million people tuned in for the first hour of the president’s April 5 Sunday briefing on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.
Trump also railed against MSNBC’s Morning Joe in his Tuesday morning Twitter tirade, claiming they are ‘nuts’ and host Joe Scarborough (center) is filled with ‘hatred and contempt’
The president often rails against ‘fake news,’ claiming they do not cover his coronavirus response correctly or fairly – and his most recent name for those he disagrees with is ‘lamestream media,’ which is a play on the term ‘mainstream media.’
He said Tuesday morning that he watched the beginning of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, but said he couldn’t watch after five minutes because the main host, Joe Scarborough, is filled with ‘hatred and contempt.’
‘Watched the first 5 minutes of poorly rated Morning Psycho on MSDNC just to see if he is as ‘nuts’ as people are saying,’ Trump tweeted. ‘He’s worse. Such hatred and contempt!’
‘I used to do his show all the time before the 2016 election, then cut him off,’ the president continued. ‘Wasn’t worth the effort, his mind is shot!’
Trump also got into a verbal back-and-forth with a CBS News reporter at his briefing Sunday evening and dismissed questions from another reporter during that briefing because he works for CNN.