NYT reporter rNYT reporter reveals the stunning reason Trump believed coronavirus would disappear next month

AlterNet logoOn CNN Thursday, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman revealed that President Donald Trump is angry about his administration’s coronavirus response — in part because he misunderstood what the experts told him about the disease and thought they meant it was going to go away soon.

“The president has been very frustrated with the public messaging of this from his administration, but not for the reasons that people necessarily think,” said Haberman. “It’s because there were experts who were saying one thing from the CDC, which was that there is this problem growing, and then he was trying to tamp this down in his own comments, and he keeps saying something that, as I understand it, is a misinterpretation of what he was told in a briefing, which was that viruses tend to decrease in numbers in terms of spread during warmer weather. He has taken that and put his own spin on it which is, it’s going to stop by April. He’s been telling people that for a while.”

“He was very concerned when he was in India, as he was watching the stock market fall,” added Haberman. “He was calling aides, wanting them to say something public that was going to try to quell the nerves. That obviously didn’t happen, or didn’t happen to the degree he wanted.” Continue reading.

‘Pure madness’: Dark days inside the White House as Trump shocks and rages

The following article by Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey was posted on the Washington Post website March 3, 2018:

President Trump prepares to board Marine One as he heads to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 23. Credit: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post

Inside the White House, aides over the past week have described an air of anxiety and volatility — with an uncontrollable commander in chief at its center.

These are the darkest days in at least half a year, they say, and they worry just how much further President Trump and his administration may plunge into unrest and malaise before they start to recover. As one official put it: “We haven’t bottomed out.”

Trump is now a president in transition, at times angry and increasingly isolated. He fumes in private that just about every time he looks up at a television screen, the cable news headlines are trumpeting yet another scandal. He voices frustration that son-in-law Jared Kushner has few on-air defenders. He revives old grudges. And he confides to friends that he is uncertain about whom to trust. Continue reading “‘Pure madness’: Dark days inside the White House as Trump shocks and rages”

If Trump would launch a trade war because he’s angry, what about a real war?

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website March 2, 2018:

NBC just came out with the story you knew was coming: a detailed accounting of how President Trump launched a trade war Thursday. It happened about as you might have expected, with a healthy mix of anger, improvisation and a decided lack of preparation.

The story is shocking, and it confirms basically everything we thought we knew about Trump. Nothing in it is out of character for him, but it does suggest that his tendency to fly off the handle is pretty boundless. It leads to the unmistakable question: If Trump would do this with a trade war, would he also do it with an actual war? That question is not so speculative anymore. Questions about what Trump’s temperament could portend in times of crisis are becoming increasingly real. Continue reading “If Trump would launch a trade war because he’s angry, what about a real war?”

‘He threw a fit’: Trump’s anger over Iran deal forced aides to scramble for a compromise

The following article by Anne Gearan was posted on the Washington Post website October 11, 2017:

President Trump spoke about the agreement with Iran on their nuclear program when meeting with military leaders on Oct. 5. (The Washington Post)

President Trump was livid. Why, he asked his advisers in mid-July, should he go along with what he considered the failed Obama-era policy toward Iran and prop up an international nuclear deal he saw as disastrous?

He was incensed by the arguments of Secretary of State Rex ­Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and others that the landmark 2015 deal, while flawed, offered stability and other benefits. He did not want to certify to Congress that the agreement remained in the vital U.S. national security interest and that Iran was meeting its obligations. He did not think either was true. Continue reading “‘He threw a fit’: Trump’s anger over Iran deal forced aides to scramble for a compromise”

A ‘pressure cooker’: Trump’s frustration and fury rupture alliances, threaten agenda

The following article by Robert Costa, Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker was posted on the Washington Post website October 9, 2017:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) called the White House “an adult day care center,” but he isn’t the only senator who has questioned President Trump’s temperament. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Frustrated by his Cabinet and angry that he has not received enough credit for his handling of three successive hurricanes, President Trump is now lashing out, rupturing alliances and imperiling his legislative agenda, numerous White House officials and outside advisers said Monday.

In a matter of days, Trump has torched bridges all around him, nearly imploded an informal deal with Democrats to protect young undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, and plunged himself into the culture wars on issues ranging from birth control to the national anthem. Continue reading “A ‘pressure cooker’: Trump’s frustration and fury rupture alliances, threaten agenda”

Trump Is Downright Miserable, and He’s Begun Lashing Out at Top Aides

The following article by Callum Paton of Newsweek was posted on the AlterNet website September 1, 2017:

A new report indicates the president is rapidly losing patience with John Kelly and others.

Credit: DonkeyHotey / Flickr

Wheeling from one crisis to another, President Donald Trump has unleashed his temper within the confines of the White House on cabinet members and top aides—and may be on a collision course with his Chief of Staff, John Kelly.

Insiders say that Trump is reeling from the recovery in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the fallout from the deadly clashes in Charlottesville and what he sees as a media onslaught and has taken to lashing out because he feels he is not getting the credit he deserves. Continue reading “Trump Is Downright Miserable, and He’s Begun Lashing Out at Top Aides”