Donald Trump recently blew up at a CNN reporter during the latest coronavirus briefing, after the journalist made a comment about the “happy talk” taking place in the press conferences. Deadline reports that it was CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, who asked the question that upset Trump. Notably, the two men have had issues with one another in the past.
“We hear from a lot of people who see these briefings as sort of ‘happy talk’ briefings,” Acosta said. “And some of the officials don’t paint as rosy picture of what is happening around the country. If you look at some of these questions — do we have enough masks? No. Do we have enough tests? No. Do we have enough PPE? No,” Trump interrupted at this point, saying, “Why would you say that? The answer is yes. I think the answer is yes.”
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“There’s no happy talk, Jim. This is the real deal… I’ve got to make the biggest decision of my life.”
The President reacts to Jim @Acosta suggesting recent briefings have been “happy talk” painting “a rosy picture” of the pandemic.
“We’re talking about death,” Trump adds. pic.twitter.com/kx6OH7rdEd
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) April 10, 2020
The pair then went on to openly disagree with one another for several minutes over whether or not the nation has enough medical supplies to face the coronavirus pandemic. Trump stated that he believes there is a sufficient amount of supplies. Acosta disagreed, claimed that there was news coverage to support the notion that doctors, nurses, and other healthcare officials are in dire need of more. “A lot of it is fake news,” Trump replied. He then added, “Well yeah, depending on your air they are always going to say that because otherwise you are not going to put them on.”
Trump then hit back at Acosta over the “happy talk,” remark, saying, “This is not happy talk. Maybe it is happy talk for you. It is not happy talk for me. We’re talking about the greatest economy in the world, one day I have to close it off. And we did the right thing because maybe it would have been two million people died.” The president continued, “This is sad talk. … These are the saddest news conferences that I have ever had. I don’t like doing them. You know why? Because I am talking about death.” Globally, coronavirus is reported to have killed more than 100,000 people.
