Trump Fires Back at Reporter for Handshaking Jab: “Wait a Minute, Take it Nice and Easy, Relax”

President Trump held a press conference earlier today with the members of the Coronavirus task force by his side to lay out further plans for combating the spread of the virus and taking care of the American people, one day after a press conference was held outlining the initial steps.

NBC White House correspondent, Kelly O’Donnell, asked him a series of questions that ended up with her interupting him while he was trying to best respond to her question about yesterday’s press conference asking, “why he shook people’s hands?” He responded by saying, “Wait a minute, just take it nice and easy, just relax.”

President Trump: I had my temperature taken coming into the room.

O’Donnell: So did we.

President Trump: Good, let’s compare, good that means we are all looking good. I also took the test last night and I decided I should based on the press conference yesterday. People were asking did I take the test?

O’Donnell: And when will you have the result, Mr. President.

President Trump: I don’t know whatever it takes, a day or two days, whatever it is, they sent it to a lab.

O’Donnell: Mr. President, respectfully, you’ve been sending mixed messages. We watched as you shook hands with people yesterday, you have talked about 5 million tests being available, probably won’t need that many. Has your own sense of urgency evolved and are you changing what you’re doing?

President Trump: No, this has been urgent from the beginning. You know that because I closed up our country to China.

O’Donnell: So why are you shaking hands, sir?

President Trump: Because it almost becomes a habit and you get out of that habit and frankly I was a non-hand shaker, for the most part, I never believed that shaking hands, once you become a politician and I notice it to, political people walk up to me, they want to shake my hand I said well –

(O’Donnell interrupts) Is it a mixed message sir?  

President Trump: Wait a minute, just take it nice and easy, just relax. People come up to me they shake hands they put their hand out it’s sort of a natural reflex and we’re all getting out of it, all of us have that problem, somebody comes up to you they put their hand out you probably tend to just shake it and we’re all getting out of it shaking hands is not a great thing to do right now I agree. But people put their hand out, sometimes I’ll put the hand out you don’t think about it, people are thinking about it more and more we have to think about it, it’s important.

Predictably, many on the left are upset, which can be seen with activist Amy Siskind Tweet accusing President Trump of sexism for his response. This simultaneously gives the reporter a pass for interrupting the President of the United States while he was simply trying to answer her loaded question regarding handshaking.

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