Donald Trump’s press briefings are costing him

| 2:00 pm EDT April 16, 2020
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With no golf to play, no resorts to hang out at, and no deranged campaign rallies to hold, Donald Trump’s daily press briefings are clearly the only enjoyment he still gets out of his sadistic life. He brags about imaginary accomplishments. He attacks reporters in maniacal fashion. He’s getting his jollies for sure – but it’s costing him.

World leaders always get a temporary boost in approval rating as a crisis unfolds, because some people think the best way to improve their nation’s odds of surviving it is to give a vote of confidence to their leader whether they approve of their leader or not. These boosts never last all that long. Donald Trump’s crisis boost was remarkably small, and it’s gone already. His approval rating is now firmly back underwater, meaning he’s in a terrible position for reelection.

Trump’s press briefings are two hours of free airtime for his reelection campaign each day, yet he’s representing himself so poorly, his numbers are terrible. These press briefings are costing him. And if you’re not one to believe the polls, here’s some compelling anecdotal evidence:

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We’ve seen reports that Donald Trump’s own allies want him to stop holding these press briefings because he’s embarrassing himself. He’s still holding them because he thinks he knows better than everyone, and because he enjoys behaving like a bully in front of the cameras. But he’s hurting his own cause out there. He’s too far gone cognitively to understand this, or too far gone psychologically to care.