Donald Trump may think his coronavirus briefings are going swimmingly, but Republican lawmakers who could very well pay a price for Trump's dreadful incompetence on the pandemic are clearly desperate to muzzle him. So they did what everyone does when they can't get Trump's attention privately, they went to the press in hopes that he might get the hint.
Here's what several GOP lawmakers told The New York Times:
- South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, up in 2020, encouraged Trump to turn the briefings into "a once-a-week show" (i.e. less is more)
- West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, up in 2020, said the briefings were "going off the rails a little bit" and recommended that Trump "let the health professionals guide where we’re going to go”
- Indiana Rep. Susan Brooks, who isn't seeking reelection, was even more blunt: “they’re going on too long”
Even the Wall Street Journal editorial board is desperate for Trump to take a seat. "The President’s outbursts against his political critics are also notably off key at this moment. This isn’t impeachment, and COVID-19 isn’t shifty Schiff. It’s a once-a-century threat to American life and livelihood," the board wrote Thursday.
GOP lawmakers and aides alike are encouraging Trump to move away from his lie-laden coronavirus briefings that sometimes drag on for two hours and start focusing on the country's looming economic recession. Trump's internal campaign polling has shown exactly what public polling is showing: he's losing the PR battle and his tragically self-involved briefings are clearly a part of the problem.
But Republicans pushing Trump to focus on the economy should be careful what they wish for. There's an entire conservative brigade at Fox News and within Trump’s own White House that is clamoring for Trump to reopen for business as soon as possible, regardless of what the scientists are saying. And what the scientists are saying at the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services about reopening too soon is very bad, according to new projections obtained by the Times. Lifting social distancing and stay-at-home orders after just 30 days will “lead to a dramatic infection spike this summer and death tolls that would rival doing nothing.”
Replacing a daily coronavirus briefing with a daily recession briefing isn't likely to go any better, especially if Trump’s impatience to jumpstart the economy comes at the price of a major resurgence of the virus. The only real solution to avoiding the electoral liabilities of being led by an incoherent narcissist in a moment when competence means the difference between life and death is to muzzle him completely. Good luck with that. Trump’s too desperate for the attention to cede the stage, even when he’s creating an epic disaster.