Howard Dean says he's boycotting MSNBC appearances until network stops airing Trump pressers

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Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Howard Dean has taken a stance against MSNBC, vowing not to appear on the network unless it skips President Trump's daily coronavirus press briefings.

There has been a growing chorus of critics who are calling on media outlets not to air the White House briefings live, accusing the president of "misinformation" and "lying," and condemning his attacks on reporters, as well as his ongoing praise for the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the virus.

Dean took to Twitter on Tuesday to challenge the network and urged others to join him.

"I just told MSNBC I wasn’t going on their shows as long as they were broadcasting trump’s [sic] press conference. I won’t make much difference if it’s just me but if 50 of you did it it would make a difference," the former Vermont governor tweeted.

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Several media personalities have voiced similar sentiments. In March, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow sounded the alarm of what she suggested was the potential danger of the president addressing the nation.

"If it were up to me, and it's not, I would stop putting those briefings on live TV," Maddow told viewers. "Not out of spite but because it's misinformation. If the president does end up saying anything true, you can run it as tape but if he keeps lying like this every day on stuff this important, all of us should stop broadcasting it. Honestly, it's gonna cost lives."

Last week, CNN anchor Don Lemon urged his own network not to cover the briefings live.

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"I have said I don't think that you should really listen to what he says, you should listen to what the experts say," Lemon told his colleague Chris Cuomo during their nightly handoff. "I'm not actually sure, if you want to be honest, that we should carry that live. I think we should run snippets. I think we should do it afterward and get the pertinent points to the American people because he's never, ever going to tell you the truth."

He continued: "It is all a plot. It is all orchestrated. And if you can't see it, I don't know what you're looking at. It's obvious, it's transparent to me. This has become -- those press briefings have become his new 'Apprentice.' They've become his new rallies. And he treats the press and the media as if he's talking to the people at his rallies. It's the same thing. It's no different except the audience isn't there."