How a media-distracted Trump ended up derailing his own briefing

[mahatmakanejeeves]

When Bill Bryan presented the findings of a new study at the task force meeting Wednesday, POTUS wasn't there. When Bryan returned the next day, he again wasn't there. Instead Bryan hastily filled Trump in before the press briefing. With
@Kevinliptakcnn

Link to tweet

How a media-distracted Trump ended up derailing his own briefing

By Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins, CNN

Updated 9:05 AM ET, Sat April 25, 2020

Washington (CNN) -- President Donald Trump was absent from the Situation Room on Wednesday when William Bryan, the acting head of science at the Department of Homeland Security, presented the findings of a new study to the White House coronavirus task force. ... The findings were intriguing -- and potentially in line with something Trump has been speculating on for weeks: that the spread of coronavirus could be slowed by warmer weather.

Vice President Mike Pence and the other members of the task force listened to Bryan intently, people familiar with the meeting said. When he was finished, some members of the team encouraged him to refine his presentation. Some openly wondered whether the results were solid enough for public consumption. The task force suggested Bryan, who has extensive military experience but is not a scientist nor does he have a medical background, return with an updated version the next day to take to the President -- and to the press.

When Bryan arrived Thursday with a camera-ready presentation, Trump again wasn't at the 3 p.m. ET coronavirus task force meeting, the sources said. But in the minutes before Trump's planned early evening news conference, Bryan quickly explained his findings to the President in the Oval Office. ... Moments later, Bryan was standing at the White House podium explaining how sunlight, ultraviolet rays and disinfectants -- such as bleach and alcohol -- could shorten the half-life of coronavirus.

But when Bryan's explanation ended, things went sideways. As his health advisers looked on expressionless, the President started lobbing questions about whether light or disinfectants could be used inside the human body to cure coronavirus. ... Trump and the White House spent the next 24 hours trying to rationalize the comments while health departments reminded Americans that ingesting bleach is lethal. At Friday's briefing -- at 22 minutes, the shortest since Pence got involved with the task force -- the President walked off without taking any questions.

{snip}

[Laelth]

1. Trump is colossally LAZY.

That’s the ultimate explanation, here. If he had merely attended his own task force meetings and paid attention to the actual information being presented, he wouldn’t have made himself look like a complete IDIOT in front of the entire world.

But no. He’s lazy, so he skipped the relevant meetings, got up on stage, and winged it.

Very unprofessional.

-Laelth

[tulipsandroses]

2. Thats what he's done his entire life. Hence all the bankruptcies

Never plans for anything. No deep thought. Learning. Nope. " Gut instincts and winging it".

[Laelth]

3. That's about the size of it. Nothing new. n/t

-Laelth

[COLGATE4]

4. Trump is what is called an "enthusiastic bluffer".

His only stock in trade is bullshit.