CNN’s Chris Cuomo declared this week that it is time to put politics aside and “get real” about the COVID-19 pandemic.
He then played an out-of-context clip of President Trump discussing the White House’s initial efforts to address the outbreak and then launched into a lengthy tirade attacking the president’s “asinine,” “bullshit” comments.
Great TV!
“Stop ignoring the facts for political advantage,” Cuomo pleaded during a broadcast from his basement. “Get real. The past is over. There can be no more letting politics reinforce our worst instincts. We need to build on our best instincts.”
In the very next breath, the host added, “And that said, while I’m asking you all to do that, the man at the top refuses to change.”
The CNN show then played a brief clip of the president speaking at a White House briefing on the administration’s effort to address the coronavirus pandemic.
“[T]he cases really didn’t build up for a while,” Trump says in the clip aired by CNN, “but you have to understand, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I don’t want to create havoc and shock and everything else.”
The video then jumps ahead to when the president said at that same briefing, “I’m not going to go out and start screaming, this could happen, this could happen.”
The cameras then cut back to Cuomo, who used the brief clip to launch into an angry, lengthy tirade assailing the president’s comments.
For reference, though, this is the full context of what the president said in response to a question about him claiming earlier that the virus is “a problem that’s going to go away within a couple of days”:
I then closed it down to Europe. That’s a big move — closing it down from China and then closing it down from Europe, and then, ultimately, closing it down to the U.K. So — and it was right about that time. But I’m not going to go out and start screaming: “This could happen. This could happen.”
So, again, as president, I think a president has to be a cheerleader for their country. But at the same time I’m cheerleading, I’m also closing down a very highly infected place, specifically the location, as you know, in China that had the problems. And we’re closing it down, but we closed it down to all of China, then we closed it down to all of Europe. Those were big moves, and it was right about that time.
Cuomo preferred, however, to get angry at the out-of-context version of Trump.
“Anybody can tell people what they want to hear,” he shouted, “and make it easy. And then you know what you get? Exactly where we are right now.”
“That was the most asinine statement of leadership I have ever heard,” the host continued. “And I can’t even dismiss it on the president having a 102-degree fever, like I do, because that is clear thinking from him.”
He then paraphrased the president poorly, saying, “‘I’m a cheerleader. So, I’m going to lie to you about the realities that your parents, your loved ones, and your kids face. I’m not going to prepare the way I should because it reinforces the bullshit I’m telling you. And I’m going to hope that you’re okay with it.’”
You know, it is amazing. It really is. With all the things that Trump says and does that deserve criticism, it is amazing that some in the press (still) fabricate controversies to be angry about. And after doing just that, Cuomo flipped a switch and reverted back to appealing to our better angels.
“We’ve got to do better than that. This president must do better than that,” Cuomo said. “The good news is, he can. The bad news is, he refuses to. And that, I have no answer for. He said we’d be good by Easter.”
He concluded: “On Easter Sunday, you know what? I will be sick, and I will be sick for some time to come. And somebody telling me something else doesn’t make me feel any better. It makes me feel worse about them. I demand the truth for my situation. I demand the truth for you, as well. Again, too many of us have parents, loved ones, and kids in the balance.”
Anyway, it is great to see that CNN, and Cuomo specifically, are okay again with “selectively edited” videos.
I am sure pro-life activist David Daleiden will be pleased to hear this.
