When reporters and pundits are not busy getting the story wrong or parroting Chinese Communist Party propaganda, they are busy ridiculing the Trump administration and the individuals it has enlisted to help with emergency relief efforts.
Consider the case of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
He has overhauled his facilities in Minnesota so that roughly 75% of his company’s production is focused now on making cotton face masks for healthcare workers. On Monday, during a White House press briefing in the Rose Garden, Lindell announced he plans to increase the production of face masks, which will not be available to the public for purchase, from 10,000 a day to 50,000.
“God gave us grace on Nov. 8, 2016,” the CEO said in reference to the 2016 presidential election, “to change the course we were on. God had been taken out of our schools and lives.”
He added, “A nation had turned its back on God. And I encourage you: Use this time at home to get — home to get back in the word, read our Bibles, and spend time with our families.”
Rather than applaud Lindell’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic, members of the press banded together to mock him, the administration, MyPillow, and the CEO’s references to the Bible.
First, there were the commentators.
“[P]lease tell me this is a prank,” said MSNBC host Joy Reid. “Not a prank. Ok perfect. Everything is fine.” Her network colleagues were similarly distressed by the pro-Trump CEO’s White House appearance.
“Trump just called the ‘My Pillow’ guy up to the podium in the Rose Garden. You cannot make this stuff up,” complained host Ali Velshi.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said later that it “seems crazy to me that everyone” is broadcasting the White House coronavirus press briefings “when you have the MyPillow guy getting up there talking about reading the Bible.”
“Look, it’s hard to fill up 90 minutes worth of material every single day, so you need to get some sponsored material/infomercials,” quipped New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait.
Daily Beast contributor David Rothkopf said of Lindell’s references to the Bible, “[I]f you think it is God who made Donald Trump president, you are confusing God with someone else.”
“No more Tr*mp briefings interrupting broadcasts. Period. These are rallies, not information; misinformation, not a public service. There’s no justifying this. Not one bit,” said Vice contributor Derrick Clifton.
In the world of ostensibly serious news analysis and reporting, the reactions from members of the press were similarly angry and derogatory.
“In case you were wondering what My Pillow is doing in a time of coronavirus,” sneered CNN executive director Ram Ramgopal. His network cut away from the briefing Monday shortly after Trump introduced Lindell.
Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie Brown said, “The ‘My Pillow Guy’ was at the Corona Virus briefing today? Boy oh boy, do we need SNL this Saturday. If this had been a SNL skit we would have thought it was fake, right? You can’t make this shit up.”
Remember: Lindell was at the White House in the first place to tout his efforts to contribute the nationwide fight against a deadly pandemic.
Senior HuffPost politics reporter Jennifer Bendery added elsewhere, “I see the pillow guy spoke at today’s White House coronavirus task force briefing and said everyone should read the Bible now. Everything’s gonna be fine!”
“Imagine this happening in any other modern democracy,” said BBC editor Yuko Kato.
Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi said, “Trump introduces longtime supporter Mike Lindell, the founder of My Pillow, for a free campaign ad for Trump and a free ad for My Pillow.”
New York Daily News politics reporter Chris Sommerfeldt added elsewhere of Lindell’s appearance, “This is for some reason happening at a White House briefing on the coronavirus that has killed thousands of people in the U.S.”
“I have nothing against the Pillow Guy or what he says,” said MSNBC political analyst Richard Stengel. “But it is evidence once again that the Trump admin is unable to attract actual professionals to do the work of government and that these ‘press’ conferences are just open-mic entertainments that should not be televised live.”
“Someone should really ask about the decision to run an infomercial from the Rose Garden,” added NBC News senior political analyst Jonathan Allen.
MSNBC anchor David Gura said, “FUN FACT: If the My Pillow guy, Michael Lindell, appears at a briefing, it is no longer a briefing.”
You wonder why so many polls show that people don’t trust the media? One reason is Twitter. Twitter has destroyed the credibility of the media just by letting journalists be themselves.
