Trump brags about his coronavirus briefings being a 'ratings hit' and having 'the viewership of The Bachelor'

Never doubt Donald Trump's ability to stroke his own ego, even in the middle of a pandemic.

During his press conference at the White House on Sunday, the president boasted about how his daily briefings, which are broadcast on live television, have been getting better ratings than the popular reality dating show The Bachelor.

He also complained about the ratings getting compared to Monday Night Football before going off on some bizarre tirade about democracy.

Ultimately, the American public should be the decider. If they don't wanna watch, then they shouldn't watch. We shouldn't have bigger ratings than The Bachelor or as The New York Times said, we have 'Monday Night Football type ratings.'

Now, I didn't say that. I have no idea what they are but I know that the Times, they say it's 'all the news fit to print.' I say it's all the news not fit to print because I think they are not honest people but that's OK. They can't help it but even they said that the ratings are like 'Monday Night Football ratings' and the are like The Bachelor finale when the big deal happens. I had no idea what happened because I was too busy working on this. Somebody will tell me what happened.

So I think it's terrible. When you don't want the president of the United States to have a voice anymore, you're not talking about democracy any longer. 

That's a lot to unpack but is he really complaining (or bragging, his tone is really odd here) about a lot a people watching his press briefings during the middle of pandemic, which has spread around the world and is claiming numerous lives on a daily basis?

He then appeared to tweet what The New York Times wrote about the ratings.

Trump's bizarre rant was so unprecedented and unhinged that even Fox News, the network most friendly towards the president, cut him off.

Trump has been heavily criticised for his slow response to Covid-19 and his myriad mixed messages, which have included blaming nurses for a shortage of medical masks.