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Trump Has Congratulated Himself 600 Times During Coronavirus Briefings, Says Report

The president has also tried to blame others for their shortcomings more than 110 times.

President Donald Trump has congratulated himself on his response to the coronavirus pandemic on roughly 600 occasions, according to The New York Times. The newspaper analyzed every word Trump has spoken at his White House briefings and other remarks on the virus since March 9, when the outbreak began disrupting everyday life. It categorized the words into self-congratulations, exaggerations and falsehoods, crediting others, blaming others, and displaying empathy. The most recurring utterances from Trump were self-congratulations, tallying up to roughly 600. He credited others for their work around 360 times, and blamed others more than 110 times. Trump has tried to display empathy or appeal to national unity about 160 times—roughly a quarter of the number of times he complimented himself or a member of his team. John Murphy, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who studies the rhetoric of American presidents, said: “The level of self-congratulations that occurs every day at these press conferences is unprecedented.”