White House

President Trump apparently thinks his daily press briefings on how his administration is handling the coronavirus pandemic is a reality show ... 'cause he's hyping his "ratings."

DT tweeted out the callous and insensitive message to his followers Sunday, boasting about sky-high numbers he and his task force are supposedly bringing in for news networks and other TV stations broadcasting his crucial health updates to the American people.

Trump cites the NY Times as referring to his ratings as "Bachelor finale, Monday Night Football type numbers," and says the "Lamestream Media" is going nuts about the fact he's reaching so many people. He ends his tweet with a promise to return ... "See you at 5:00 PM!"

The Prez then went on to quote the NYT writer, seemingly for context and to imply that it wasn't him, per se, that was obsessed with ratings (even though he is). The quote from Michael M. Grynbaum reads, "President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ Numbers are continuing to rise..."

He continues by citing the numbers across different networks, adding "...alone attracted 6.2 million viewers for the president’s briefing — an astounding number for a 6 p.m. cable broadcast, more akin to the viewership for a popular prime-time sitcom..."

He then quoted Grynbaum as saying a low percentage of Republicans trusted the news media for info on the virus. Implication being ... they trust 45 more.

The fact he's giving any conversation -- be it his or others' -- about ratings oxygen whatsoever is pretty asinine -- of course, people are tuning in ... their lives are on the line.

Churches in New York are steadfast in keeping their doors closed amid the coronavirus pandemic to continue slowing the spread ... despite President Trump's plan for an Easter revival.

TMZ has spoken with 9 NYC church leaders, and all of them are standing firm in vowing to keep their places of worship empty on April 12 holy day.

Reverend Peggy Clarke of Community Church New York tells us ... she considers Trump's push for Americans to attend church together in a couple weeks "stunningly unethical," adding "Easter is a celebration of love and victory over death. The best symbol of that will be empty churches on Easter Sunday."

Rev. James Ross Smith of The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin says while he's incredibly sad about not opening his doors on Easter, he shares Rev. Peggy's sentiment. Smith says ... "It is our responsibility and duty to take care of each other, and one of the ways we do that is by listening to the health experts."

Another leader we spoke with, Pastor Patrick Thompson of New City Church, has been personally affected by the pandemic -- he tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday after experiencing symptoms of a fever about a week ago, and is in self-quarantine.

Thompson says ... "We are focusing on our new reality. Church isn't just about gathering, it's about sending people out. Even if we get a go-ahead from the federal government, we will not meet in person on Easter for safety purposes."

The pastor tells us he was distributing meals to homeless shelters and senior centers with members of his church just days before he began feeling symptoms of the coronavirus. Thing is ... they were wearing masks and gloves, so it highlights how dangerous it would be for church members to congregate too soon ... especially with NYC being the epicenter of the COVID-19 onslaught.

All of these churches -- along with Church of St. Francis Xavier, Grace Church, Trinity Church Wall Street, Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, Church of the Incarnation and Holy Family Catholic Church -- agree that Trump's push for a public Easter celebration isn't going to affect their decision to remain closed.

They may be preaching to the choir in NYC, but in other parts of the U.S. ... the President's goal to business as usual on Easter is gaining traction.

God help us.

Seems the ice has thawed between Tom Brady and Donald Trump -- at least, according to POTUS -- who says he spoke with TB12 the other day and they're all gooooood!

Trump busted out the humblebrag during a coronavirus update press conference Thursday while trashing the "fake news" media.

"Somebody in the fake news said that one of the governors said 'Oh we need Tom Brady' [to lead the coronavirus relief effort]."

"They think Tom Brady should be leading the effort. That's only fake news and I like Tom Brady. Spoke to him the other day. He's a great guy."

Of course, Tom and Trump had a friendship that went back years -- Tom even put DT's "Make America Great Again" hat in his locker during his first campaign.

But, the two had a big falling out back in 2017 -- Tom didn't go to the White House with the team that year and Trump made no mention of TB12 during his congratulatory remarks.

As we previously reported, Trump felt betrayed by Brady for not standing up for him publicly. In fact, Gisele publicly stated she and Tom didn't support him anymore.

Tom has also disagreed with Trump's criticism of Colin Kaepernick -- saying the comments POTUS has made about NFL kneelers is "just divisive."

But now it seems they're on better terms.

President Trump said it'd be a good idea for hotels to start closing their doors -- including his own -- but the fact is ... Trump Hotels in America are by and large open for business.

45 was asked about how the shutdowns and closures sweeping the nation's businesses might be affecting his own -- the guy lends his name to several different hotels and restaurants globally -- and he said he was getting hurt like everyone else.

It almost seemed like he wasn't sure -- but took some big guesses, eventually deferring to his sons, who are in charge of the Trump empire while DT's in office.

Still, Trump took a hard stance, telling the press Sunday he actually thought it would be a good idea if his hotels closed to deter people from congregating and cut down on the virus potentially spreading. TMZ called around ... and it doesn't sound like that memo's gotten to his own staff quite yet. Fact is ... some U.S.-based Trump Hotels are still taking bookings.

Of the stateside Trump Hotels where folks can rent a room for Sunday night -- according to the front desk clerks:

-- Trump International Hotel Chicago ... Open for business

-- Trump International Hotel Waikiki -- Open for business

-- Trump Int'l D.C. -- Open

-- Trump Int'l Hotel and Tower Vancouver -- Open

-- Trump National Doral Miami -- Open

Trump hotels in Nevada and New York -- Closed

As for international properties, the hotel in Turnberry, Scotland is open. The hotel in Ireland is not.

President Trump's considering giving Americans up to $1,000 to help people suddenly out of work due to the coronavirus, and his main man on economics has a tip on where to spend it.

We got Larry Kudlow Tuesday on Capitol Hill shortly after the announcement of those checks -- part of a proposed trillion dollar relief package -- could be in the mail within a couple of weeks. Kudlow is the Director of the Nat'l Economic Council, so he's the guy to ask about how best to stretch that check ... if you get it.

First, LK says you definitely should NOT blow the dough on stupid ventures. For instance, even if ya got time on your hands at home during quarantine, online gambling -- even on the weather -- ain't the wise move, according to Larry.

He says your best move is putting it back into the economy -- spending, not saving, it on essential household items, supplies, food and, of course ... your rent or mortgage.

However, he's not opposed to getting yourself something pretty -- on Wall Street, that is. Larry says the best way to make the cash pay off in the long run is to take advantage of deep discount stock prices.

President Trump says the United States is suspending all travel to and from Europe for a lengthy period of time ... as the government ratchets ups its response to the deadly pandemic.

Trump says there will be a 30-day travel ban between Europe and the U.S.A starting Friday at midnight ET due to the coronavirus... but he says the United Kingdom will be exempt from the ban.

Other exemptions, Trump says, will be made for Americans who have been screened for the virus.

Ted Cruz is the first person in Congress to take the big step of self-quarantining after he says he recently came into contact with someone who now has coronavirus.

The Texas senator made the announcement Sunday, saying out of an abundance of caution ... he's gonna get outta D.C. for the week and sit it out at home. The reason ... Cruz says he had a brief convo and a handshake with the one guy at CPAC who's contracted COVID-19.

He writes, "I'm not experiencing any symptoms, and I feel fine and healthy. Given that the interaction was 10 days ago, that the average incubation period is 5-6 days, that the interaction was for less than a minute, and that I have no current symptoms, the medical authorities have advised me that the odds of transmission ... were extremely low."

Cruz goes on to say he's consulted with the best in the health biz on this one -- including Veep Mike Pence, who's heading up the U.S.'s coronavirus effort -- and they gave him the greenlght.

What's possibly even more concerning about this move ... the implications for other bigwigs in Washington -- many of whom were at CPAC -- and maybe even POTUS himself.

CPAC's chairman, Matt Schlapp, says he too had interacted with the COVID-19 patient at one point during the event. Schlapp also shook hands with Trump on the final day of the conference -- it's unclear which happened first, though. The exact nature of the corona contact is also vague.

Melania Trump is catching heat again for something that may or may not be warranted -- putting up photos of a new project she's working on ... without addressing the coronavirus.

The First Lady tweeted 3 pics Saturday showing her, her team and a group of construction crew members wearing hard hats and checking blueprint plans for a new tennis pavilion she's having installed at the White House -- which is being funded by private donors.

Of the project, she wrote ... "I am excited to share the progress of the Tennis Pavillion at @WhiteHouse. Thank you to the talented team for their hard work and dedication."

Innocent enough, right? WRONG!!!!!!!  Or so says a bunch of Twitter users who immediately flooded her timeline with accusations of being tone-deaf, out of touch and super-snobbish to put a spotlight on a somewhat frivolous effort while a global pandemic is unfolding.

You can go check the comments for yourself, but yeah ... people weren't happy with this. Lucky for them, MT heard 'em loud and clear -- and responded accordingly.

She fired back with a relatively subtle jab ... "I encourage everyone who chooses to be negative & question my work at the @WhiteHouse to take time and contribute something good & productive in their own communities. #BeBest." Taking the high road, it seems.

Part of the reason Melania's catching flak here is because she's been pretty quiet about the coronavirus, not to mention the destructive tornadoes in Nashville last week.

By the same token, this isn't nearly as bad as her "I Don't Really Care" moment. And just for a little context ... Barack Obama did some work on the WH tennis court back in '09 to turn it into a full basketball court. Right in the middle of the swine flu pandemic, too.