Thousands of Americans want President Donald Trump to halt his daily press briefings about the coronavirus pandemic.
"President Trump is blatantly using the news organizations' extensive, live coverage to freely campaign for a second term," a MoveOn petition signed by almost 150,000 people claims. "It is wrong and dangerous to provide so much unfettered airtime to someone who is happily, shamelessly spreading terrible, damaging misinformation that is already costing fellow Americans their lives."
MSNBC's Chris Hayes and CNN's Don Lemon earlier Tuesday spoke about against their network's decision to run Trump’s briefings live, and many critics claim the broadcasts provide a platform for the president to spread misinformation.
"They have morphed into something akin to Trump rallies without the crowds," Hayes said. "The briefings are where he casts his failures in the most positive light. [Monday] the man who initially dismissed the coronavirus threat — remember we have all heard it time and time again — said that if 100,000 persons died from the virus, he and his team have done a quote, very good job."
"I am not sure, if you want to be honest, that we should carry that live. I think we should run snippets," Lemon said. "I think we should do it afterward and get the pertinent points to the American people, because he's never, ever going to tell you the truth."
He said the briefings have become Trump's new "Apprentice," where he "wants his base to think the media's being mean to him and they're attacking him."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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