Jen Psaki, a CNN political commentator, was the White House communications director and State Department spokeswoman during the Obama administration. She is vice president of communications and strategy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Psaki is an outside adviser to Demand Justice, a progressive group pushing for court reform. Follow her at @jrpsaki. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. Read more opinion articles at CNN.

(CNN) When the announcement came from the White House on Monday morning that there would be no briefing, there was a sigh of relief.

Jen Psaki

And not just from weary fact-checkers and health care professionals, but from members of President Donald Trump's own political party who have been forced to at worst defend and at best explain his failure to prepare for, manage and communicate on the worst public health crisis in a century.

But there was no way President Trump was going to miss his opportunity to communicate his own alternative reality of how well he has handled and managed the response to coronavirus. He loves the spotlight. Even when it is under the worst possible circumstances. He can't seem to help himself. How else would he blame everyone else?

Instead of a repeat of the briefing room press conferences that have provided hours of head-scratching and at times shocking claims by President Trump, Monday's resurrected event was moved to the Rose Garden, which in the old days of more normal presidents was saved for big announcements and state visits.

The briefing, which featured draped flags and well-produced slides about a testing plan without a timeline for implementation, didn't make up for the fact that the United States has surpassed 50,000 deaths from coronavirus. Nor for a White House message so confusing that some states like Texas are on the path to reopening while others are looking at weeks if not months of shelter in place. Trump may have come across as a little less unhinged mainly because he didn't suggest anyone ingest disinfectant to cure coronavirus.

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