Author Stephen King and other concerned onlookers called attention Friday to the number of white men gathered with President Donald Trump addressing the Wuhan coronavirus.
Trump, government officials, and CEOs of major companies such as Target, Walgreens, and Walmart spoke in the Rose Garden as Trump declared a national emergency and laid out public-private partnerships to address the growing pandemic. But some were more worried about the racial and gender diversity of the participants.
In King's case, he erroneously said Trump's "coronavirus team" was "all male, all old, and all white." He didn't notice Dr. Deborah Birx, who took the microphone after Trump and is serving as the White House's coronavirus response coordinator.
Note that Trump’s coronavirus team is all male, all old, and all white.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) March 13, 2020
Perhaps later realizing his error, King referred to Birx as the "lady with the shawl" and said she looked "so great compared to the rest of those bozos." Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verma also spoke at the conference.
Quite the parade of white men in ties, eh? the lady with the shawl looks so great compared to the rest of those bozos.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) March 13, 2020
Other journalists and pundits couldn't hide their dismay at the "parade of old white guy CEOs," as Julia Ioffe put it.
It's just a parade of old white guy CEOs...
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 13, 2020
'This day should be an inspiration for every American," Mike Pence says. And, after a parade of white male chief executives from pharmaceutical and retail companies spoke: 'We are bringing an all of America approach."
— Matt Viser (@mviser) March 13, 2020
I mean, WTF is this? Some kind of game show? Parade of white guys in suits? #TrumpPressConference
— Ron Marz (@ronmarz) March 13, 2020
I guess we maybe should have guessed this Trump coronavirus press conference would be a hundred straight white men stroking each other's egos and passing coronavirus to each other through handshakes on live TV.
— Alex Whitcomb (@AlexWhitcomb) March 13, 2020
KEEP USING THE SAME MIC, REPUBLICAN WHITE MEN PRAISING EACH OTHER!
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 13, 2020
Quite the diverse range of middle-aged white men speaking this afternoon at the WH (w/few exceptions).
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) March 13, 2020
Not a press conference. It's a parade of white men kissing Trump's ass.
Groveling sycophants.
Obama never needed people to feed his ego when the country was panicking & in national crisis.#NationalEmergency#sycophants#TrumpPressConference
— lizfinnarnold (@QueenZenobia6) March 13, 2020
The stock market responded positively to the press conference, spiking dramatically at the end of another volatile week on Wall Street.