Trump Asserts His ‘Authority Is Total’ After Lashing Out At COVID-19 Response Criticism

April 13, 2020
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April 13, 2020

After Monday’s White House coronavirus briefing devolved into an unhinged attack on the media — which included a White House-produced video clip pushing back on reports about the Trump administration’s early missteps in handling the COVID-19 outbreak — Trump claimed that his “authority is total” regarding the decision of when to reopen the economy.

“When somebody’s the President of the United States, the authority is total,” Trump said. “And that’s the way it’s gotta be. It’s total. And the governors know that.”

Pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about how “that is not true,” Trump had a sarcastic response to her question.

“You know what we’re gonna do? We’re going to write up papers on this,” Trump said. “It’s not going to be necessary because the governors need us one way or the other, because ultimately it comes with the federal government. That being said, we’re getting along very well with the governors.”

When Collins attempted to ask the President about who told him that he has “total authority,” Trump quickly cut her off by telling her “enough.”

Scroll down for the full coverage of the briefing:

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After Monday’s White House coronavirus briefing devolved into an unhinged attack on the media — which included a White House-produced video clip pushing back on reports about the Trump administration’s early missteps in handling the COVID-19 outbreak — Trump claimed that his “authority is total” regarding the decision of when to reopen the economy.

“When somebody’s the President of the United States, the authority is total,” Trump said. “And that’s the way it’s gotta be. It’s total. And the governors know that.”

Pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about how “that is not true,” Trump had a sarcastic response to her question.

“You know what we’re gonna do? We’re going to write up papers on this,” Trump said. “It’s not going to be necessary because the governors need us one way or the other, because ultimately it comes with the federal government. That being said, we’re getting along very well with the governors.”

When Collins attempted to ask the President about who told him that he has “total authority,” Trump quickly cut her off by telling her “enough.”

Scroll down for the full coverage of the briefing:

Notable Replies

  1. We have to win on Nov 3rd, if only to end these don and pony shows by Jan 20th.

  2. November 3rd cannot get here fast enough.

  3. Time to go clean the bathroom. He’ll be late. He always is.

  4. No disrespect.
    I would rather be beat with a stick then listen to Trump.

  5. Soon, perhaps sooner than we think, every question he gets (besides OAN), will be met with “fake news.” Today (I hope) it will be about Fauci, the “testing sites” (there are five), and the governors’ decisions to open the economy.

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