‘Nobody more patriotic than me, your favourite president’: Donald Trump shifts gears on pandemic

Donald Trump responds to slide in polls by trumpeting mask-wearing and resuming daily White House briefings.

US President Donald Trump wears a mask as he visits Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump has responded to his slide in the polls by shaking-up his approach to the coronavirus, resuming his daily White House briefings and focusing more on progress towards vaccines and treatments.

The change in tactics reflects a series of dire polls which show almost two in three Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of the pandemic. Mr Trump’s Democrat opponent, Joe Biden, now enjoys a lead of up to 15 points.

With new coronavirus cases now rising in 31 states and surging across Republican heartlands in the south and west of the country, Mr Trump’s advisers have warned he must act fast or risk losing the November election.

“I was doing them (briefings) and we had a lot of people watching, record numbers watching in the history of cable television, and there’s never been anything like it,” Mr Trump said about his decision to resume briefings.

We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President! pic.twitter.com/iQOd1whktN

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2020

“It’s a great way to get information out to the public as to where we are with the vaccines and the therapeutics.

“We’ve had this big flare-up in Florida, Texas, a couple of other places. And so I think what we’re going to do is I’ll get involved and we’ll start doing briefings. And part of the briefing I think much more so than last time, because last time we were nowhere with vaccines or therapeutics.”

Mr Trump was speaking after reports that early test results on a coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford showed promising outcomes in triggering an immune response in the 1077 participants in the trial.

This is very positive news. A huge well done to our brilliant, world-leading scientists & researchers at @UniofOxford.
There are no guarantees, we’re not there yet & further trials will be necessary - but this is an important step in the right direction.https://t.co/PRUTu8rlPF

— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) July 20, 2020

“We have tremendous progress on vaccines and therapeutics, we’re getting reports, we’re studying reports,” Mr Trump said. “I think people are going to be very pleasantly surprised with what’s going on on the vaccine front and on the therapeutic front.”

Mr Trump is also shifting his message on face masks, which he once opposed but now sometimes wears.

He tweeted a photo of him wearing a face mask saying “many people say it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favourite President.”

Mr Trump has come under criticism for false claims he made this week about the virus including that the spike in new cases was entirely due to increased testing and that new cases were mostly young people who would only get a “sniffle” and would heal “in a day”.

His advisers, including Kellyanne Conway, have suggested that the president needs to be seen to be more proactive and in control of the fight against the pandemic.

Key adviser … Kellyanne Conway (left) watches US President Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

Mr Trump abandoned daily coronavirus briefings in April after he was ridiculed when he suggested that disinfectants might be injected inside the human body to combat the virus.

At that time he said the briefings were “not worth the time and effort”. But since then, as the virus cases and deaths have continued to mount, Mr Trump has come under growing pressure to show more leadership at a federal level rather than leave state governors and mayors to deal with the pandemic.

Mr Trump’s comments came as the virus continued to surge in the south and west with North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia and Louisiana recording record case counts as deaths tick up in those states.

In Florida, another 10,347 people tested positive for the virus, the sixth consecutive day of more than 10,000 new cases, taking total cases to more than 360,000. The state recorded 90 new deaths taking total deaths past 5000 during the pandemic.

Protesters interrupt Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' coronavirus presser:

"Shame on you Ron DeSantis! You're lying to the public!" https://t.co/odc5qAYfIh pic.twitter.com/xB6vfrqfey

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 20, 2020

In Florida, the teacher’s union has sued Governor Ron DeSantis to block his emergency order to force schools to fully reopen next month at a time when the coronavirus is surging across the state.

The case is the first of its kind in the country and could become a precedent for resolving disagreements over whether US schools can resume normal classes when the new school year begins at the end of August.

Mr DeSantis, a Republican, has said he wants schools reopened fully, saying: “If fast food and Walmart and Home Depot … if all that is essential, then educating our kids is absolutely essential.”

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia