Communication of the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic

President Donald Trump's administration communicated in various ways during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, including via social media, interviews, and press conferences with the White House Coronavirus Task Force.[1][2][3] Opinion polling conducted in mid-April 2020 indicated that less than half of Americans trusted health information provided by Trump and that they were more inclined to trust local government officials, state government officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci.[4][5][6]

Trump was publicly optimistic through much of the pandemic;[7] at times his optimistic messaging diverged from that of his administration's public health officials.[8] From January to mid-March 2020, Trump downplayed the threat posed by COVID-19 to the United States, as well as the severity of the outbreak.[9][10][11][12] Trump did, however, place restrictions on travel from China on January 31.[13] From February to May, Trump continually asserted that COVID-19 would "go away".[14][15] The CDC waited until February 25 to first warn the American public to prepare for a local outbreak of the virus.[16] In March 2020, the administration began conducting daily press briefings at the White House,[17] where Trump was the dominant speaker.[18]

Trump repeatedly made false statements regarding the pandemic.[19] He took messaging advice from Fox News hosts like Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs, both of whom he dialed into Oval Office meetings.[20] Trump exaggerated the impact of measures taken by his government and the private sector,[10] understated the projected time to produce a vaccine, recommended uncontrolled transmission in pursuit of herd immunity until a vaccine was developed,[21][22] and promoted unapproved treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine.[10] In such instances, scientists, including Anthony Fauci,[23][24] Michael Osterholm,[25][26] and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (director-general of the World Health Organization),[27] publicly countered his misleading messages with correct information.[28] Trump also frequently reversed his stances in his communication, leading to mixed or contradictory messaging.[29] He sometimes denied his own public statements.[30][31]

Trump repeatedly blamed others for the severity of the outbreak.[32] The most frequent targets of his criticism were Democrats, followed by the media, state governors, and China (where the virus originated).[18] Trump went from praising China in January regarding their transparency in response to the Chinese outbreak, to criticizing China in March for a lack of transparency, to criticizing the World Health Organization in April for praising China's transparency.[33][34]

  1. ^ McCaskill N, Kenen J, Cancryn A (March 16, 2020). "'This is a very bad one': Trump issues new guidelines to stem coronavirus spread". Politico. Archived from the original on March 16, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  2. ^ Cohen J (March 22, 2020). "'I'm going to keep pushing.' Anthony Fauci tries to make the White House listen to facts of the pandemic". Science. Archived from the original on March 23, 2020. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference GoldbergMarch17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference WeismannMarch17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference PaceApril24 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference SRSSCNN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference SamuelsApril29 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Superville, Darlene; Woodward, Calvin (March 4, 2020). "A disconnect between Trump and health officials on COVID-19". Associated Press. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference BlakeMarch17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b c Qiu, Linda (March 27, 2020). "Analyzing the Patterns in Trump's Falsehoods About Coronavirus". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference RiederMarch19 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference PhillipsApril1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Corkery, Michael; Karni, Annie (January 31, 2020). "Trump Administration Restricts Entry Into U.S. From China". The New York Times.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference BumpApril29 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference BlakeMay9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Taylor, Marisa (March 23, 2020). "Exclusive: U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before virus outbreak". Reuters. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  17. ^ Wolfe, Jan (March 30, 2020). "Trump brags about high TV viewership of coronavirus briefings". Reuters. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  18. ^ a b Bump, Philip; Parker, Ashley; Abutaleb, Yasmeen (April 26, 2020). "13 hours of Trump: The president fills briefings with attacks and boasts, but little empathy". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 27, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  19. ^ Paz, Christian (April 27, 2020). "All the President's Lies About the Coronavirus". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  20. ^ Parker, Ashley; Dawsey, Josh (January 9, 2022). "Trump's cable cabinet: New texts reveal the influence of Fox hosts on previous White House". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  21. ^ Gittleson, Ben (October 15, 2020). "Trump embraces idea behind 'herd immunity' as Fauci calls concept 'total nonsense'". ABC News. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  22. ^ Achenbach, Joel (October 13, 2020). "Proposal to hasten herd immunity grabs White House attention, appalls top scientists". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference 20200303washingtonpost was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference WiseMarch22 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Alcindor, Yamiche (April 24, 2020). "An infectious disease expert on the dangers of Trump's 'non-scientific' claims". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  26. ^ Golgowski, Nina (October 18, 2020). "Infectious Disease Expert: The 'Darkest Of The Entire Pandemic' Has Yet To Come". HuffPost. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  27. ^ Walsh, Joe (October 12, 2020). "WHO Chief Decries 'Herd Immunity' Covid Strategy Endorsed By Key Trump Advisor". Forbes. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  28. ^ Mascarenhas, Lauren (January 19, 2021). "Fauci says it "has not been an easy thing" to have to contradict Trump on scientific facts". CNN. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference BlakeApril23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  30. ^ Cite error: The named reference ReigerApril21 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ Breuninger, Kevin; Wilkie, Christina (May 5, 2020). "Trump's tendency to deny his past statements has become more glaring during coronavirus". CNBC. Archived from the original on July 18, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  32. ^ Cite error: The named reference LemireApril10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference McDonaldApril15 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference WardApril15 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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