It was inevitable that the President who is obsessed with polls would bring up his own approval rating.
During his coronavirus press briefing Tuesday, President Trump lamented that Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, two prominent doctors on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, have higher approval ratings than he does when it comes to the coronavirus.
“We could have gotten other people, we could’ve gotten somebody else. It didn’t have to be Dr. Fauci,” Trump said. “He’s working with our administration. And for the most part, we’ve done pretty much what he, and others, Dr. Birx and others, who are terrific, recommended. And he’s got this a high approval rating. So why don’t I have a high approval rating with respect, and the administration, with respect to the virus?”
Perhaps it’s because Trump has long said COVID-19 will simply “disappear;” he has until very recently shunned masks, a simple but effective tool for slowing the virus’ spread; and he has explicitly said with less testing we’ll have fewer cases.
“So it sort of is curious. A man works for us, with us, very closely, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, also highly thought of, and yet they’re highly thought of but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That’s all.”
Trump laments that he has a lower approval rating on the coronavirus than Drs. Fauci and Birx: "It can only be my personality" pic.twitter.com/Z40HVF7m9N
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 28, 2020
Follow TPM’s coverage of Trump’s press conference below:
It was inevitable that the President who is obsessed with polls would bring up his own approval rating.
During his coronavirus press briefing Tuesday, President Trump lamented that Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, two prominent doctors on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, have higher approval ratings than he does when it comes to the coronavirus.
“We could have gotten other people, we could’ve gotten somebody else. It didn’t have to be Dr. Fauci,” Trump said. “He’s working with our administration. And for the most part, we’ve done pretty much what he, and others, Dr. Birx and others, who are terrific, recommended. And he’s got this a high approval rating. So why don’t I have a high approval rating with respect, and the administration, with respect to the virus?”
Perhaps it’s because Trump has long said COVID-19 will simply “disappear;” he has until very recently shunned masks, a simple but effective tool for slowing the virus’ spread; and he has explicitly said with less testing we’ll have fewer cases.
“So it sort of is curious. A man works for us, with us, very closely, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, also highly thought of, and yet they’re highly thought of but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That’s all.”
Trump laments that he has a lower approval rating on the coronavirus than Drs. Fauci and Birx: "It can only be my personality" pic.twitter.com/Z40HVF7m9N
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 28, 2020
Follow TPM’s coverage of Trump’s press conference below: