Washington(CNN)
President Donald Trump wasn't planning to come before cameras Sunday, according to two people familiar with his plans. Thinking he'd only be meeting members of his coronavirus task force, the President put on a suit jacket, button-down shirt with an open collar and a blue "USA" baseball cap before heading downstairs to the West Wing. But when he realized the team he had assembled was heading to the briefing room to update reporters on the latest, Trump decided at the last minute that he wanted to join.
"I'll sit in the front row," he told his team, several of whom responded with puzzled looks since those seats are typically reserved for members of the press. Trump insisted he "just wanted to watch."
Instead, the President entered the room and headed directly to the podium, which until last week had gone almost entirely unused for a year.
The Sunday appearance, which came as some US cities were preparing to shut down and as the administration was finalizing its own guidelines on social distancing, was an early indication of Trump's newfound desire to project a level of seriousness about the pandemic that now has the world's attention -- even if he's not always following his team's plan.
As Trump's last-minute decision to appear in the briefing room on Sunday demonstrates, his desire remains strong to front his administration's response to the virus.
He's commented to several people over the past week that Vice President Mike Pence, the leader of the coronavirus task force, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, have received "rave reviews" for their work and television appearances -- a compliment that some aides wonder is a bad omen from a President who likes to take the credit himself.
While some of Trump's Republican allies have privately advised the White House that Pence and Fauci -- not Trump -- should act as the voice of the coronavirus response, officials recognized that was never a likely scenario, even after a widely panned Oval Office address to the nation caused further anxiety.
After weeks of playing down the crisis and insisting it would soon be over, Trump has dramatically altered his message over the past two days. Appearing daily behind the podium his officials have shunned, Trump has sought to reclaim squandered credibility and present an alternate version of history.
Trump still miscasts history during his appearances, claiming he recognized the potential for pandemic even when in reality he was shrugging off its likelihood. He hasn't abandoned issuing political barbs or castigating the media for coverage he dislikes. Even on Sunday, he assured the nation he had "tremendous control over the coronavirus" -- a statement he later walked back.
Still, after weeks of attempted interventions by Republican allies, market seesaws that nearly erased the gains of his presidency and large swaths of his social set exposed, Trump's tone has now changed.
Officials this week have pointed to more than half-a-dozen reasons why the shift might have occurred now. None seems to have the definitive explanation for why a President who on Friday was shaking hands freely in the Rose Garden predicting the virus would "wash through" is now forecasting a return to normal only by August and advising Americans to "enjoy their living room."
Whatever the cause, most aides seem to welcome the shift after privately worrying for weeks that Trump was in denial about the outbreak and not listening to his government's experts.
Trump, who appeared skeptical before Wednesday's Oval Office speech and complained bitterly afterward when it was received poorly, has been more receptive to using the White House briefing room for daily updates after meetings with his task force.
