Just as the media viewed its job as lifting up and running interference for the president during Barack Obama’s tenure, it sees its job now as the opposite. At yesterday’s daily coronavirus press briefing, reporters were in rare form, going out of their way to try to prove their oft-repeated claim that Donald Trump is a liar and incompetent. The level of disrespect in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room was palpable.
Typical of the utter sh*t show that prevailed, CBS News hack Paula Reid at one point asked Dr. Anthony Fauci whether his support for the president’s comments on the coronavirus and his role in combating it was “voluntary” or coerced.
Fauci is officially fed up with journalists. pic.twitter.com/L4wDnmcciU
— Kate Hyde (@KateHydeNY) April 13, 2020
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
It was business as usual for CNN, which hammered the president both live and via chyrons with provocative messages like “Trump refuses to acknowledge any mistakes” and “Angry Trump turns briefing into propaganda session.”
Four banners on @CNN over the last five minutes … pic.twitter.com/UBxpCcY2vl
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) April 13, 2020
But the high or low point, depending on your perspective, came in the response to a video of the reporters’ own comments that the president played. The video, when seen as a precursor to the sorts of accusations they are now leveling, underscores the media’s journalistic dishonesty and unfair treatment of this president.
This is the supercut video President @realDonaldTrump just played during the coronavirus briefing. Includes clips of MSNBC & CNN downplaying coronavirus, NYTs M. haberman defending his China travel ban, & Govs. Cuomo & Newsom praising his admin's response. pic.twitter.com/au6lWhUWtD
— Steven Lundgren (@love4thegameAK) April 13, 2020
The truth proved too much for CNN and MSNBC, both of which cut away from the briefing for the duration of the video.
But the gotchas didn’t end once the video had aired. ABC News’s Jonathan Karl, apparently not sated from his dinner of crow, came back with this:
Let me ask you about the video. I’ve never seen a video like that played in this room. It looks a bit like a campaign ad. Who produced that video for you?
