https://apnews.com/dac7209821f922658c635c8ec4069460


A 5-minute test kit for COVID-19 developed by Abbott Laboratories sits on a table ahead of a briefing by President Donald Trump about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, March 30, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

By CALVIN WOODWARD
27 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — For a few moments in the Rose Garden, the coronavirus pandemic is a bucking bronco with President Donald Trump on its back. His arm swings an invisible rope. He seems to be hanging on for dear life.

“Ride it like a cowboy,” he growls. “Just ride it. Ride that sucker right through.”

This rodeo riff came during the daily White House coronavirus task force briefing, where science meets all things Trump.

It’s where the teetotaling president serves a 5 o’clock cocktail of public-health policy, twisted facts, invented achievements, performance art, hectoring, cheerleading, erraticism, improvisation, self-praise, pet theories and a dash of eloquence. Shaken not stirred. Late in starting, finished when he feels like it.

The self-styled “wartime president” is, at least, a showtime president. He’s enjoying the high ratings of his briefings and boasting they’re up there with “The Bachelor.” Meantime on the streets of the country, people are recoiling in the wake of each passing stranger’s exhalation. In jammed hospitals, patients are fighting for life. The death toll arcs upward.

Still the show must go on.

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