Trump tweets about ratings for his coronavirus press briefings for the third day in a row as death toll approaches 17,000 and unemployment nears 17 million

• President Donald Trump has repeatedly bragged about high TV ratings for his daily coronavirus press briefings.
• Trump has tweeted about ratings three days in a row this week, suggesting they're proof that critics of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic are wrong.
• As Trump focuses on ratings, the US approached 17,000 deaths from coronavirus as of Friday morning.
• Almost 17 million Americans have also filed for unemployment in recent weeks as a consequence of the pandemic.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump has taken to Twitter three days in a row this week to boast about TV ratings for the daily coronavirus press briefings.

Meanwhile, nearly 17 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the past few weeks, and the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in the US approached 17,000 as of Friday morning.

The president has been broadly criticized over his handling of coronavirus. A CNN poll released earlier this week found a majority of Americans (55%) feel the government has done a poor job responding to the crisis, and 52% said they disapprove of the job Trump has done in handling the pandemic.

But Trump seemingly feels that the strong ratings for the press conferences, which have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, are proof that his critics are wrong - even as top Republicans express concern that the president's performances at the daily briefings are hurting him politically.

The president has also taken issue with major TV networks cutting away from the briefings or refusing to air them altogether, which is linked to Trump's tendency to spread false information.

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted: "The Radical Left Democrats have gone absolutely crazy that I am doing daily Presidential News Conferences. They actually want me to STOP! They used to complain that I am not doing enough of them, now they complain that I 'shouldn't be allowed to do them.' They tried to shame the Fake News Media into not covering them, but that effort failed because the ratings are through the roof according to, of all sources, the Failing New York Times, 'Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale' type numbers (& sadly, they get it $FREE). Trump Derangement Syndrome!"

He followed up on this with another tweet on Thursday, going after the conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal after the paper's editorial board excoriated Trump over his behavior at the daily briefings in an editorial.

The president tweeted: "The Wall Street Journal always 'forgets' to mention that the ratings for the White House Press Briefings are 'through the roof' (Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale, according to @nytimes) & is only way for me to escape the Fake News & get my views across. WSJ is Fake News!"

Though Trump slammed the Journal over the editorial rebuking his press briefings, the president was praising the paper via Twitter as recently as late January.

And on Friday, Trump tweeted: "Because the T.V. Ratings for the White House News Conference's are the highest, the Opposition Party (Lamestream Media), the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats &, of course, the few remaining RINO'S, are doing everything in their power to disparage & end them. The People's Voice!"

By "RINOS," Trump was referring to people who are "Republican in Name Only." But some of Trump's closest GOP allies in Congress, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, have even been critical of how he's approached the briefings. Graham this week told the New York Times that Trump "sometimes drowns out his own message."

Trump has essentially used the daily press conferences as a substitute for campaign rallies, which can't safely take place due to coronavirus. At nearly every single briefing, Trump has berated reporters for asking questions regarding the ongoing shortages in testing for coronavirus, as well as nationwide concerns over the lack of vital medical supplies. The president has also gone after governors who've criticized or questioned his handling of the crisis.

Republicans, among others, have urged Trump to take a step back and let experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci lead the daily briefings. GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, for example, told The Times the president should "let the health professionals guide where we're going to go," stating that the briefings have gone "off the rails a little bit."

But the ratings-obsessed president appears unlikely to follow this advice.

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