Trump Walks Out - And - "Why Are We Losing Everywhere?" Trump Asks

Two news stories here, both from yesterday, 11 May 2020:

Source:  CNN - CNN Business -   Written by Oliver Darcy;  Updated at 5:54 pm EDT, 11 May 2020

"Trump Abruptly Ends Press Conference After Contentious Exchange

The President told a journalist to "ask China" about her question.  She responded by asking, "Why are you saying that to me specifically?"

[See video clip at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU9bm13cWJw ]

**** The 45th President held a press conference in the White House Rose Garden today to talk about COVID-19 testing... ****

   President Donald Trump abruptly ended his Monday press conference after a contentious exchange in which he told an Asian-American journalist to "ask China" about her question and then refused to take a query from another White House reporter.

   Weijia Jiang, a White House correspondent for CBS News, asked the President why he sees coronavirus testing as a global competition when more than 80,000 Americans have died.

   "Maybe that's a question you should ask China, " Trump told Jiang, who was born in China and immigrated to the United States when she was two years old.  "Don't ask me.  Ask China that question, OK?"

   Trump attempted to move on by calling on Caitlin Collins, a White House correspondent for CNN, but Jiang injected with a follow-up question.

   "Sir, why are you saying that to me specifically?" asked Jiang, who was visibly taken aback by Trump's demand.

   "I'm telling you," Trump replied.  "I'm not saying it specifically to anybody.  I'm saying it to anybody that asks a nasty question."

   "That's not a nasty question," Jiang said.  "Why does it matter?"

   Trump then looked again to take a question from another reporter.

   Collins, who had let Jiang ask Trump her follow up questions, approached the microphone.

   "I have two questions," Collins said.

   "No, it's OK," Trump replied, gesturing at another reporter.

   "But you pointed to me, " Collins said.  "I have two questions, Mr. President.  You called on me."

   "I did," Trump said.  "And you didn't respond, and now I'm calling on the young lady in the back."

   "I just wanted to let my colleague finish," Collins explained.  "But can I ask you a question?"

   Trump then ended his press conference.  "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much," he said before leaving the Rose Garden.

   The President was strongly criticized by critics for the behavior he displayed.  "A very ugly, ugly ending to that one-hour appearance by the President in the Rose Garden,"  CNN's Wolf Blitzer said.

   Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders called the exchange "pretty pathetic"  and wrote on Twitter that Trump "is a coward who tears down others to make himself feel powerful."

   Some critics said Trump's remarks toward Jiang were racist.  It wouldn't be the first time Jiang was confronted by racist remarks at the White House.  Jiang wrote on Twitter in March that a White House official, who she did not name, had referred to the coronavirus as the "Kung-flu" to her face.

   Other critics suggested the exchange was laced with sexism.  "The President's unprofessionalism is always revealed most clearly when he is interacting with female reporters," Tweeted Olivia Nuzzi, Washington correspondent for New York magazine.

   A CNN spokesman declined to comment.  A spokesperson for CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. "

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Source:  Vanity Fair  -  Trump Campaign -  Written by Gabriel Sherman;  Monday, 11 May 2020

" "Trump's Felling Is, 'Why Are We Losing Everywhere?'" :  With Advisers Feuding and Numbers Plummeting, Trump Eyes Campaign Shake-Up

Brad Parscale (and his Ferrari) is in the hot seat, Jared Kushner is pushing for Nick Ayers, and against a Corey Lewandowski return.  But whose fault are the disastrous swing state numbers?

  With the coronavirus death toll surpassing 80,000 and the unemployment rate at Great-Depression-era levels, there is a growing consensus among senior Republicans that Donald Trump's reelection is slipping away.  Recent internal polls show Trump trailing Joe Biden in six swing states, a data point that augurs a landslide loss in November.  "The swing state polls are horrific," a prominent Republican briefed on the numbers told me.  The White House's COVID-19 outbreak is only the latest headline that reinforces the narrative that Trump can't get control of the pandemic.  "This is what should worry the campaign: Biden is in his basement and he's beating Trump," a former West Wing staffer told me.  "If I were Biden, the lesson I would learn is: Shut the fuck up and let Trump go out there and destroy himself."

  Seeking to change the trajectory of the race, Trump is now discussing a shake-up to his campaign leadership, three sources close to the White House told me.  Two sources said Trump has told people he wants to install 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in a senior role.  "Trump's feeling is, 'whya re we losing everywhere?'  The president is sick of it," another foremer West Wing official said.  According to a source, Lewandowski has told Trump that the RNC doesn't grasp how dire the polls are.  "Corey thinks the GOP isn't solid on fundamentals.  He says the campaign and the party spend time sending out press releases bragging about how well they're doing," the former official said.  (Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, said in an email, "literally none of this is true.")

  Trump's interest in Lewandowski has sparked conflict with Jared Kushner, two sources said.  "There's a battle over personnel," a former West Wing official said.  Kushner is strongly opposed to Lewandowski joining the campaign, sources said.  Kushner led the effort to force out Lewandowski in 2016, and has since successfully kept Lewandowski on the outer edger of Trump's orbit.  According to two sources, Kushner is trying to recruit Mike Pence's former chief of staff Nick Ayers to take a senior campaign role.  In 2018, Kushner recruited Ayers to replace John Kelly as Trump's chief of staff.  Ayers turned down the offer, and sources said he has no interest in joining the Trump campaign.  One person close to Ayers told me he's aligning himself with Nikki Haley to lead her potential 2024 campaign.  "He views Haley as the right train to be on," the source said.  (Ayers did not respond to a request for comment.)

  Trump and campaign manager Brad Parscale's relationship has been fraying for weeks, sources said.  Trump was said to be annoyed last month about a largely positive profile of Parscale in the New York Times Magazine.  Trump had already been irked by Parscale because of the talk that Parscale, a former website designer from San Antonio, had made millions of dollars through his companies from Trumps's campaigns and bought a Ferrari.  "The money is the biggest issue for Trump," a former West Wing official said.  A few days before the Times Magazine piece was published, Trump called Parscale and reportedly threatened to sue him for the campaign's weak poll numbers.  According to a source briefed on the widely reported call, Parscale told Trump to blame the campaign's struggle on Kushner.  "Brad said, 'Blame the people Jared brought in,'" the source said.  (Parscale did not respond to a request for comment.)

   As Trump debates who should lead his campaign, he's also struggling to settle on a 2020 strategy.  Some advisers are lobbying Trump to embrace the reopening.  "They're going to gamble on the economy and hope it works," a former West Wing official said.  But another camp is pushing the view that Trump should run on a blame China message.  On top of everything, there is also fear in Trumpworld that Senate Republicans might finally break from him if the polls get bad enough.  "The numbers are fucking terrible," another former West Wing official said.  "There's massive anxiety in the GOP that he's gonna take them all down with him." "