Donald Trump hates all media except the outlets that praise him, i.e. Fox News or other right-wing propaganda shills that are only too happy to carry water for the administration and tell the president what a great job he’s doing.
So it was more than a bit uncharacteristic of Trump to tweet out praise of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow recently, even going so far as to include a video of her interview with the commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lieutenant General Todd Semonite, who explained how his team is building field hospitals to care for those who have contracted coronavirus:
Thank you to Rachel @Maddow for putting our Military on full display, and showing how GREAT a job the Federal Government is doing! Also, a special thanks to General Semonite, a Patriot of the highest order and a truly talented engineer and builder! pic.twitter.com/JRQlNpLbxv
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2020
No matter how you cut it, that’s a surprisingly positive pat on the back from a man who frequently refers to MSNBC in derogatory terms.
And Maddow was quick to acknowledge the tweet from President Trump, but she also took the time to remind him that he’s still not providing everything needed to fully battle COVID-19 in the states, where many doctors and nurses cannot get equipment such as sterile gloves and protective face masks.
Make no mistake, Maddow burned the president to the ground, but she did it with class, aplomb, and the proverbial velvet glove. Take a look:
Hi, Mr. President — thanks for tweeting that interview. Gen. Semonite and the Army Corps are indeed doing great work, but at nowhere near the scale that is needed.
We’re hundreds of thousands of hospital beds behind, months behind schedule, and… https://t.co/FdBAyDH49Y
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 27, 2020
…we’re about to see the number of sick patients surge and hospitals overflow in multiple US sites at once.
This is not an NYC problem or even just a city problem. The apex patient surges will not happen tidily, one after the other, they’ll flare up all over, overlapping.
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 27, 2020
I say this without any malice at all, but please know that the US response is a catastrophe that is on track to cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Stop talking about yourself and hyping unproven treatments and demanding people compliment you and all the rest of the nonsense.
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 27, 2020
You’re failing to do any of that. Any of it. Any of it. You’re failing on every measure, and it is worse by the day. Find experts who can do this for the country and please, sir, get out of the way.
Thank you again for tweeting that interview.
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) March 27, 2020
No matter what he says, no matter what statistics he refers to, and no matter how much he tries to conceal his own massive incompetence, Donald Trump has repeatedly bungled the federal response to the pandemic that is sweeping across this country with devastating effects. People have died as a result of his refusing to take the virus seriously when it was first discovered in the United States.
Leaders lead and don’t do so seeking praise. Selfish, impotent little men seek flattery at every turn, and all they accomplish with their preening is compounding the suffering of the powerless.