Report: Trump’s Advisers Tell Him, Point Blank — His Press Conferences Are Backfiring On Him

According to a report from Axios, President Donald Trump plans to scale back the number of times he appears at daily press briefings about the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., doing so after a number of advisers told him he’s not doing himself any good by appearing day-by-day.

Trump reportedly tried to defend his choice to make the appearances, saying his doing so was receiving good ratings. But advisers told him that he was doing more harm to his image than anything else — something he should want to avoid doing during a presidential election year.

“I told him it’s not helping him. Seniors are scared. And the spectacle of him fighting with the press isn’t what people want to see,” one adviser who spoke to Axios said.

Advisers, inside the White House and outside of it, have warned Trump that he was overexposing himself, which in turn was helping his opponent, Joe Biden, in recent polls to appear to be winning the presidential race.

Another source suggested that Trump lacked enough new material to discuss day-by-day — things simply weren’t changing, regarding updates on the country’s response to the pandemic, to warrant him making so many appearances. Because of that, Trump has to make questionable and alarming statements, including some that may be dangerous.

“I mean, you wonder how we got to the point where you’re talking about injecting disinfectant?” that source said.

Trump’s commentary during these press conferences also appear to receive little support from the American people at all, at least in terms of them trusting what he has to say.

In an AP/NORC poll released this week, only 23 percent of Americans said they trust what the president has to say about coronavirus a great deal or quite a bit. Meanwhile, 54 percent said they only trusted his words a little bit or not at all. Twenty-one percent said they trusted Trump a “moderate amount.”