While the media are rewriting history because of the Bob Woodward tapes, claiming President Trump “knew and did nothing” to protect Americans from the pandemic, their own words and those of their favorite political party have betrayed them.
The president’s role as a leader requires him to make public statements that quell the panic. It’s standard operating procedure for an American president.
Anyone recall Barack Obama telling the American people that ISIS had been “contained” one day before they killed over 130 people in Paris? Was there a single media outlet that blamed him for knowing and doing nothing? Of course not.
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That said, Trump stands accused of telling Woodward on February 7 that the COVID pandemic was “more deadly than your, you know, your — even your strenuous flus,” while telling him a month later that he “wanted to always play it down … because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Most people understood why the president would make such comments. But the media and the Democratic Party aren’t most people. They’ve seized on the opportunity to accuse Trump of downplaying the crisis and doing nothing to stop it. One accusation is hypocritical, while the other is simply false.
Downplaying the Virus
The ultimate irony is that when it comes to playing down the threat of the virus to the American people, no one did this more than the Left. Relying on hindsight the now the gall to pretend as if they knew all along how bad things were going to get, sanctimoniously pointing accusatory fingers at the President for having blood on his hands.
Take a look at their positions over the past months:
- The Washington Post said the flu is “much bigger threat than coronavirus.”
- In another Washington Post “perspective” piece, the paper suggest our brains are actually making coronavirus “seem scarier than it is.”
- The Post also ran a column warning against an aggressive government response to the pandemic.
- The New York Times claimed that fear “spreads faster than the coronavirus itself.”
- CNN declared that “racist assaults and ignorant attacks against Asians” were spreading faster than the pandemic.
- CNN’s Anderson Cooper said, “Half the people in America do not get a flu shot, and the flu is far deadlier. So if you’re freaked out at all about coronavirus, you should be more concerned about the flu and actually do something about it, which is get a flu shot.”
- CNN hosted a doctor who claimed no special precautions were in order because Americans should do “what you do every cold and flu season.”
- CNN ran a segment citing physicians who said, “There’s no need to wear surgical masks … when treating viruses.”
- Vox tweeted a question asking, “Is this going to be a deadly pandemic?” before answering, “No.”
Vox: "factual, reliable, clear journalism is more important than ever."
Also Vox: "Is this going to be a deadly pandemic? No." pic.twitter.com/YqXVXwz19X
— balajis.com (@balajis) April 9, 2020
Democratic lawmakers weren’t much better as they also went out of their way to downplay the threat in the United States.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told people to leave their concerns behind and head on down to San Francisco’s Chinatown in late February. “What we’re trying to do today is to say everything is fine here,” Pelosi said. “Come because precautions have been taken. The city is on top of the situation.”
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio was telling people to “go on with your lives” and hit the movie theaters despite the threat.
Following the President’s implementation of a travel ban from China, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden vociferously objected, calling the move xenophobic.
We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 1, 2020
Trump Did Quite a Bit
The second part of the media narrative is to suggest Trump did nothing to stop the spread – a provable, bald-faced lie.
Unserious journalists make that accusation based simply on the president having told Woodward on March 19 that he “still like[s] playing it down.”
His administration’s actions up until that date show a man taking definitive action behind the scenes.
By the date in question, Trump and his administration had done the following:
- The CDC established a coronavirus incident management system to better share and respond to information about the virus.
- Dr. Fauci announced the National Institutes of Health was working on the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus.
- The White House Coronavirus Task Force started meeting to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus and provide updates to the president and declared the coronavirus a public health emergency.
- Trump vowed in his State of the Union Address to “take all necessary steps” to protect Americans from the coronavirus.
- The CDC began shipping CDC-Developed test kits for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus to U.S. and international labs.
- Trump signed an $8.3 billion bill to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
- Trump declared a national emergency in order to access $42 billion in existing funds to combat the coronavirus.
What had the Democrats and the media focused on during that time? Impeachment. And any other coverage that would reflect poorly on the president.
They have no interest in protecting the American people. Trump did. He took action. And that is the only thing that matters.
Cross posted at the Mental Recession
