TRUMP'S PRESS CONFERENCES: A RISK TO PUBLIC HEALTH

In a time of crisis, the American people require a leader who can provide facts, direction, guidance, hope and a sense national solidarity. Trump provides NONE of these. His daily press briefings about COVID-19 have become - like everything else under his purview - a total shambles. He lies and misinforms. He blames others. He provides false hope. He bullies and abuses governors who are fighting this battle on their own. And he promotes unproven and potentially dangerous treatments for COVID19. In short, his daily press conferences about the pandemic have become a risk to public health. Accordingly, the media should STOP airing these press conferences immediately and instead focus exclusively on the statements of public health experts and other leading politicians.

CONTEXT: NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY

March 2019: The USA is a currently in the midst of a public health crisis of extreme proportions. The number of confirmed cases of #COVID-19 is rising rapidly and each day lost in being able to coordinate a national response to this situation is catastrophic. In the early days of the pandemic the president of the USA, Donald Trump, very clearly attempted to downplay the seriousness of the situation so as to aide his re-election chances. Now he is using his daily press conferences about #COVID-19 as a platform through which to spread disinformation about this pandemic and to be able to abuse and malign those whom he regards as political enemies. He is campaigning, not leading, and worse still is putting lives at risk. 

THE GOLD STANDARD: DON'T FUEL HIS LIES

"This means we are exiting from the normal system for covering presidents— which Trump himself exited long ago by using the microphone we have handed him to spread thousands of false claims, even as he undermines trust in the presidency and the press. True: he is not obliged to answer our questions. But neither are we obligated to assist him in misinforming the American people about the spread of the virus, and what is actually being done by his government." (Press Think)

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