Appearing on Sunday’s Meet the Press, NBC historian Jon Meacham slammed the daily White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings as nothing more than “informercials” in which President Trump was only interested in “selling” to the American people, “not protecting them.” The rant came in response to the President rightfully declaring the decision to reopen the country as the pandemic subsides would be “the biggest decision of my life.”
“Jon Meacham, the President personalizing that, I thought that was interesting,” host Chuck Todd observed. While acknowledging that Trump was “not wrong” to say that, Todd focused on the President making the “wrong” choice: “This decision, if he makes it too soon, would be probably the most consequential of his presidency, and it wouldn’t – and perhaps could go consequential in a really bad way if he’s wrong.”
There was no discussion about the negative impact of keeping the economy shuttered for longer than necessary.
Meacham rushed to pile on, claiming that the President’s expression of how much the crisis was weighing on him was somehow “in keeping with his monarchical tendencies.” For months, Meacham has insisted that Trump thinks of himself as a dictatorial king.
The liberal pundit then wailed:
I think these briefings are really infomercials more than briefings. He is constantly selling his own reaction to the crisis in the face of facts. And I think that ultimately what you’re seeing with the numbers is Americans at some intuitive level understanding that the President is selling them, he’s not protecting them.
On March 20, Meacham warned that “the lives of your family” couldn’t possibly be safe in Trump’s hands.
While claiming to worry about Trump being a monarch, Meacham decided to cite the one American president who behaved most like a king:
And, you know, 75 years ago today, Franklin Roosevelt died. And one of his watch words in the Second World War was, “The American people can handle bad news, but you have to give it to them straight from the shoulder.” And the news is going to get worse and worse before it gets better and better. But if you level with people, they will respond.
Considering Franklin Roosevelt interned 100,000 innocent Japanese-American citizens during World War II and stayed in office for four terms, perhaps the Democrat isn’t the best role model when it comes to avoiding “monarchical tendencies.”
Meacham similarly touted Roosevelt on Thursday’s Late Show With Stephen Colbert, when he proclaimed that the country needed an “Avengers” team of past Democratic presidents to respond to the global health crisis.
Here is a transcript of the April 12 exchange on Meet the Press:
11:10 AM ET
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YAMICHE ALCINDOR: So I think what the President’s up against is the fact that he’s really eager to try to start getting the economy back because he sees it so tied to his re-election campaign. But I think it’s one of those things where you can see the President saying, “I’m going to go with my instincts and the health experts,” while Dr. Fauci is saying, “We’re going to make a collective decision,” and President Trump is saying, “Actually no, this is the biggest decision of my life and I’m going to make it.”
CHUCK TODD: Jon Meacham, the President personalizing that, I thought that was interesting. Look, he’s not wrong. This decision, if he makes it too soon, would be probably the most consequential of his presidency, and it wouldn’t – and perhaps could go consequential in a really bad way if he’s wrong.
JON MEACHAM: Absolutely. And it’s in keeping with his monarchical tendencies here. I think these briefings are really infomercials more than briefings. He is constantly selling his own reaction to the crisis in the face of facts. And I think that ultimately what you’re seeing with the numbers is Americans at some intuitive level understanding that the President is selling them, he’s not protecting them. And I think that one of the things he’s got to figure out politically here is this is a virus, the virus can’t be bullied, it can’t be dismissed.
And, you know, 75 years ago today, Franklin Roosevelt died. And one of his watch words in the Second World War was, “The American people can handle bad news, but you have to give it to them straight from the shoulder.” And the news is going to get worse and worse before it gets better and better. But if you level with people, they will respond.
(...)
