US President Donald Trump played a campaign-style video to defend his initial response to the coronavirus pandemic in the US.
During a White House briefing, Trump introduced his video clip to show how his administration handled the spread of COVID-19.
“We have a few clips that we’re just going to put up,” Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room Monday evening before starting the reel. “I think you’ll find them interesting.”
“But most importantly, we’re going to get back onto the reason we’re here, which is the success we’re having,” Trump added.
Produced by the White House, the four-minute video started with the text: “THE MEDIA MINIMIZED THE RISK FROM THE START.”
Another text graphic reads: “PRESIDENT TRUMP TOOK DECISIVE ACTION.” The succeeding frames displayed the timeline of steps he approved in response to the spread of the coronavirus.
The video consists of news clips promoting and defending the president’s decisions and actions. The compilation played with dramatic music in the background as well as graphics and visual effects.
However, critics accused the president of using the briefings for political campaigning. The daily briefings he holds air on most major TV networks. Critics believe the briefings have replaced his campaign rallies that were cancelled due to the public health crisis.
The US remains to have the highest number of reported COVID-19 cases of any country in the world as well as the highest number of deaths from the virus. Data from Johns Hopkins University showed that over 577,300 people in the US are infected and 23,232 already died.
“Everything we did was right,” Trump said in the briefing room as soon as the video ended.
The video continues with “partisans” who “sniped and criticized” his efforts, including the implementation of travel restrictions and quarantine rules to prevent the disease from spreading.
An audio clip of New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman describing the travel restrictions as “probably effective." This was the time the black-and-white photos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and Joe Biden appeared on the screen.
Governors such as Democrats Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsom of California also showed up on the video expressing their gratitude to Trump for the federal help he approved in their states.
Some of the president's previous briefings had been peppered with grievances against his critics and attacks on media outlets. In March, he criticized NBC News reporter Peter Alexander after asking Trump if he had anything to say to Americans who are “scared” because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I say that you’re a terrible reporter, that’s what I say,” Trump retorted, calling it a “nasty question.”
He also called one reporter “disgraceful” and “a fake” when he was not pleased with her line of questioning.
When the president was being asked about his claim that he has “total” power to lift lockdowns across the country, he told another reporter: “Enough!”
At the end of the video, Trump said it “was done by a group in the office, and we just put some clips together.”
When asked why such a video was made, Trump said, “Because we’re getting fake news and I like to have it corrected.”
