This is where we act with all of this bullshit, everything has to be about this asshole. Man I am so annoyed today.
OXON HILL, Md. — Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on Friday blamed the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because "they think this will bring down the president, that's what this is all about."
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists, Mr. Mulvaney played down concerns about the virus that is spreading around the globeand panicking investors.
Mr. Mulvaney said the administration took "extraordinary steps four or five weeks ago," to prevent the spread of the virus when it declared a rare public health emergency and barred entry by most foreign citizens who had recently visited China.
"Why didn't you hear about it?" Mr. Mulvaney said of travel restrictions that were widely covered in the news media. "What was still going on four or five weeks ago? Impeachment, that's all the press wanted to talk about."
The media's focus switched to the coronavirus for the same reason, he continued.
"The reason you're seeing so much attention to it today is that they think this is going to be the thing that brings down the president," he added. "That's what this is all about it."
Following the president's lead, Mr. Mulvaney also brushed off concerns over the virus; there have been 60 cases identified in the United States.
"The flu kills people," he said. "This is not Ebola. It's not SARS, it's not MERS. It's not a death sentence, it's not the same as the Ebola crisis."
Mr. Mulvaney also criticized the news media for generally not wanting to portray Mr. Trump in a positive light. But he chose a bizarre example, claiming it refuses to cover what he described as Mr. Trump's loving relationship with his 13-year-old son, Barron.
He said Mr. Trump is in frequent contact with his youngest son, calling to check in on him and let him know of his whereabouts. But, Mr. Mulvaney said, "the press would never show you that because it doesn't fit that image of him, the press wants him to be this terrible monster."
Trump Criticizes Media for Coverage of Coronavirus (Published 2020)
The president seeks to reassure the public while blaming the media and Democrats for trying to score points by exaggerating the threat of the outbreak.
www.nytimes.com