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US President Donald Trump gives a press briefing on COVID-19 at the White House’s Rose Garden on Apr. 27. (AP/Yonhap News)

US President Donald Trump likes to call media outlets that are critical of him as the “lamestream media,” riffing on the “mainstream media.” That term generally includes the publishers and broadcasters that he regards as purveyors of “fake news,” such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and NBC.

In the first years of his presidency, Trump used the term “mainstream media,” but the constant attacks he’s received over the Russia scandal and other issues prompted him to start using the term “lamestream media” this past July. The growing frequency with which Trump has used this term shows both how frustrated he is with the press and how often they’ve criticized him. Trump has employed the term a total of 47 times on Twitter, with 23 of those references being made in March and April of this year. That’s the exact time when the US has been slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Trump has been blamed for the severity of the outbreak.

When Trump uses the term “lamestream media,” he tends to be drawing a contrast with media that are more friendly to him, such as Fox News. But even that tendency has changed a little during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lately, Trump has been griping about Chris Wallace, a Fox News anchor regarded as objective, while cheering on One America News Network (OAN), a news network that’s blatantly pro-Trump.

During a briefing by the White House’s coronavirus task force in March, an OAN reporter remarked that the news media is arguing about whether to broadcast the briefings live even when Trump’s approval rating is at its highest point ever. Trump responded by thanking the reporter for his “good question.” Trump has retweeted OAN articles claiming that hydroxychloroquine is effective against the coronavirus and makes a point of calling on the “OAN” reporter to ask questions during briefings. The American media interprets this as Trump trying to pressure Fox News to stay on message.

Trump has also tweeted his support for the African-American video bloggers Diamond and Silk, two sisters who are huge fans of the president. No doubt, Trump’s craving for allies grows keener the more he’s attacked and the more his approval ratings droop.

But the “telepathy” between Trump and the media outlets and groups that support him appears to go even further. The COVID-19 pandemic and Trump’s crisis have rallied the far-right figures known as the “alt-right” who had been lying low for some time. When flag-waving demonstrators recently took to the street to protest the coronavirus shutdowns, Trump wrote “LIBERATE” on Twitter, naming the states of Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia. Trump also defended the protesters as people who love their country.

The alt-right, a loosely affiliated group tied together by white supremacy, opposition to immigration, and support for gun ownership, apparently lost momentum after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017 ended in bloodshed. But it apparently regards the COVID-19 outbreak as a new opportunity. The Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit that monitors tech companies, recently announced that it had found 125 far-right radical groups advocating insurrection on Facebook. Around 60% of those groups were set up in the last three months, after COVID-19 hit, and thousands of people have reportedly joined the groups over the past month. These groups were inspired by Trump’s “LIBERATE” tweets and are talking about how to make bombs, the nonprofit said.

During the initial phase of the coronavirus, Trump called it the “Chinese virus” and temporarily halted immigration, insisting that American jobs come first. While such behavior can provoke hatred and violence against Asians, Trump doesn’t seem to care about such possibilities. As Trump incorporates his signature “American first” approach into his coronavirus response, I’m worried that this growing discord and hatred will become the “new normal” in the US.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]