Donald Trump defends his approach to the corona crisis in a heated exchange of blows with journalists. The US President caused a sensation with a video reminiscent of an election campaign.
Dienstag, 14. April 2020
In a dispute over a loosening of restrictions on public life in the United States, President Donald Trump has claimed sovereignty for himself. He has “all-encompassing power” on the reopening of America as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, Trump said at the White House Monday night (local time). In doing so, he responded to statements by governors from several US states who had previously said they would coordinate with each other to lift the restrictions they imposed. Trump emphasized: “If someone is President of the United States, he has all-round power.”
In the United States , almost all states have issued their own exit restrictions due to the new type of corona virus. Trump’s government has also recommended precautionary measures across the country, which are expected to continue until the end of April. Trump said he would work closely with the governors to decide on easing. Vice President Mike Pence defended Trump’s statement, saying that he has full powers in the event of a crisis. However, the power of a US president is constitutionally limited by the separation of powers and federalism.
Cuomo counters Trump: “We have no king”
The governor of the particularly affected state of New York, the democrat Andrew Cuomo , firmly opposed Trump. “The president has no all-encompassing power. We have a constitution, we have no king,” Cuomo told CNN. Even a nationwide crisis does not override the constitution, he said.
Republican Trump wants to ease the corona virus restrictions as soon as possible due to the emerging severe economic crisis. Cuomo said on Monday that he and his colleagues from five other northeastern states would be closely coordinating decisions to ease restrictions. The rest of the states were New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Delaware. California wanted to coordinate with several states on the west coast.
Trump also defended his general approach to the corona crisis in a heated exchange of blows with the journalists present at the press conference . First, he explained in detail what measures he had taken since the outbreak. He then had a video of a compilation of statements from numerous people – including governors, health experts and journalists – who praised his work during the crisis.
Donald Trump: Video in the style of his campaign team
“We can show you hundreds of such clips,” said Trump. “It’s very sad when people write wrong stories.” Nobody acknowledges what has been done in the past few weeks.
Trump directly referred to a New York Times article from the weekend that documented the White House’s hesitant behavior.
Journalists in the room accused Trump of having government officials produce a Trump-style campaign video. TV station CNN summed up the press conference with the following words: “Angry Trump turns briefing into propaganda session”.
Trump repeatedly attacks numerous media – in particular the “New York Times”, the “Washington Post” and the TV station CNN – for reporting on him. Recently, media criticism had increased with reference to the duration – often more than two hours – and the controversial news value of Trump’s coronavirus briefings.