(Transcription of an article published in the Guardian on 14 April 2020)
Prezidnt laśt ǎt at rportrz, swîpt at Bîdn n rfyzd t axpt ɖt h hd pt a ft roñ in c’roṇvîṛs rspons
Devid Smiʈ in Wośñtn. Tyzde, 14 Epril 2020
A todlr ʈrù a slf-pitiyñ tantṛm on lîv teḷviźn on Munde nît. Unforćṇtli h wz 73 yirz old, wẹrñ a loñ red tî n runñ ɖ wrld’z most pǎrfl cuntri.
Doṇld Trump, starvd v campenraliz, Mar-a-Lago wīc-endz n golf, n gǒdd bî a bomśel nyzpepr rport, cd’nt tec it eni mor. Yirz v acritd grīvns n rzntmnt twdz ɖ mīdia cem guśñ ǎt in a toṛnt. H rantd, h revd, h mltd dǎn n h blù p ɖ inṭnet wɖ wn v ɖ most jw-dropñ pformnsz v hiz prezidnsi.
Ɖs wz, az h lîcs t pt it, “a 10”.
Trump’s Īstr hd evidntli bn ruind bî a dámñ 5,500-wrd Ny Yorc Tîmz invstgeśn śowñ ɖt Trump sqondrd preśs tîm in Jańri n Febrri az ńmṛs guvnmntfigrz wr sǎndñ ɖ alarm abt ɖ c’roṇvîṛs.
Wɖ mor ɖn 23,000 Americn lîvz lost in sć srcmstansz, sm prezidnts mt nǎ b cnsiḍrñ reẓgneśn. Nt Trump. H arîvd in ɖ wst wñ brīfñrūm dtrmind t tel ɖ wrld, or at līst hiz bes, ɖt h wz nt t blem. Instd it wz a ny n bludi fêz v hiz wor agnst ɖ “eṇmi v ɖ ppl”: ɖ mīdia. Faṃliz grīvñ luvd wnz lost t ɖ vîṛs wr in fr cold cumf̣t hir.
A CNN cîrón z wrʈ a ʈǎznd wrdz: “Trump rfyzz t acnolij eni mstecs”; “Trump ysz tascfors brīfñ t trî n rīrait hisṭri on c’roṇvîṛs rspons”; “Trump mlts dǎn in angri rspons t rports h ignord vîṛswornñz”; “Angri Trump trnz brīfñ intu propganḍseśn.”
Ɖ ʈin-scind prezidnt laśt ǎt at rportrz, swîpt at Deṃcrat Jo Bîdn n rfyzd t axpt ɖt h hd pt a ft roñ. “So ɖ stori in ɖ Ny Yorc Tîmz z a totl fec, it’s a fec nyzpepr n ɖe rait fec storiz. N smde, hopf̣li in fîv yirz ẃn I’m nt hir, ɖoz peprz r ol gwñ ǎt v biznis bcz nbdi’s gwñ t rīd ɖm,” Trump sd.
Wɖ a dṛmatic fluriś, ɖ prezidnt ordrd ɖ brīfñrūm lîts dimd. In a Jemz Bond film, it wd b ɖ momnt ɖt pôznd gas z pîpt intu ɖ rūm. Ẃt hapnd wz’nt far of: a campen-stîl montaź v vidioclips, śoun on scrīnz set p bhnd ɖ podịm. Ɖr wz ftij v doctrz seyñ in Jańri ɖt ɖ c’roṇvîṛs dd nt pǒz an iminnt ʈret, Trump dclerñ a naśnl imrjnsi, n Deṃcratic guvnrz prezñ him fr pṛvîdñ fedṛl asistns.
Vetṛn Ẃît Hǎs rportrz sd ɖe cd nvr rmembr sć a film biyñ pleid in ɖt rūm. It hd bn pt tgɖr in a cupl v aurz bî Dan Sc̣vīno, ɖ d’rectr v sośl mīdia at ɖ Ẃît Hǎs, n a tīm in les ɖn tū aurz, Trump xplend. “W cd gv y hundṛdz v clips lîc ɖt.”
Jon Carl v ABC Nyz asct in consṭneśn: “Ẃ dd y fīl ɖ nīd t d ɖt?”
Trump rplaid: “Bcz w’r gtñ fec nyz n I lîc t hv it c’rectd … Evrʈñ w dd wz rît.”
Doņld Trump: ‘Ẃn smbdi z prezidnt v ɖ Ynîtd Stets, ɖ oʈoṛti z totl’ – vidio
Ovr n ovr, Trump hîlîtd hiz dsiźn t ban sm flîts fṛm Ćîna in lêt Jańri bfr ɖr wr eni vîṛs-rletd deʈs cnfrmd in ɖ YS – īvn ɖo nirli 400,000 ppl travld t ɖ YS fṛm Ćîna bfr ɖ rstrix́nz wr in ples n 40,000 ppl hv arîvd ɖr sins.
Ɖ CBS Nyz corispondnt Pōla Rìd wz hvñ nn v it n cut t ɖ ćes. “Ɖ arğmnt z ɖt y bòt yrslf sm tîm,” ś sd “Y dd’nt yz it t priper hospitlz. Y dd’nt yz it t ramp p tstñ. Rît nǎ, nirli 20m ppl r unimploid. Tnz v ʈǎzndz v Americnz r ded.”
Trump tōct ovr hr: “Y’r so dsgresfl. It’s so dsgresfl ɖ we y se ɖt.”
Rìd dmandd: “Hǎ z ɖs nyzrīl or ɖs rant s’pozd t mc ppl fīl confidnt in an unpresdntd crîsis?”
Trump rvrtd t hiz Ćîna travl-rstrix́nz bt Reid cntinyd t pś him on hiz inax́n in Febrri. Trump wz unebl t mustr a rīzṇbl rspons. It wz a ceṣtudi in hǎ, ẃn h luzz an arğmnt, hiz instñt z t atac ɖ akzr. H trotd ǎt hiz freid, tîmwòrn insult: “Y nǒ y’r a fec, yr hol netwrc ɖ we y cuvr it z fec … Ɖt’s ẃ y hv a lowr apruvlretñ ɖn probbli y’v evr hd bfr tîmz ʈri.”
Deṃcrats cn onli hop Bîdn wz woćñ Rìd fr tips on hǎ t dbet ɖ prezidnt.
Rlịr, Dr. Ánṭni Fǎći stept t ɖ podịm t claṛfî ɖt h hd bn rspondñ t a “hîṗʈeticl qsćn” jrñ an apiṛns on CNN’z Stet v ɖ Yńn program on Súnde ẃn h sd mor cd hv bn dn t sev Americn lîvz. H dnaid h wz biyñ forst t claṛfî agnst hiz wil.
Trump, hu hd rītwītd a post cntenñ ɖ haśtag “#FirFaci”, sd: “Tde I wōc in, I hír I’m gwñ t fîr him. I’m nt fîrñ him, I ʈnc h’z a wundrfl gai.”
Ɖ brīfñ wnt on fr wel ovr tū aurz. Īvn Fox Nyz gev p bfr ɖ end. Adm Śif, ɖ ćer v ɖ Hǎs intelijnscmiti, spouc fr mni ẃn h twītd: “Ẃ d repytbl nyz orġnîześnz cari ɖz dêli Trump presconfṛnsz lîv?
“Ɖe r fild wɖ misinf̣meśn n propganda. Fṛm ɖ prezidnt himslf, no les. Ɖ cuntri wd b far betr srvd n informd f ɖe yzd hîlîts lêtr. Inuf z inuf.”
