If you have wondered whether there is at least a small element of partisan politics driving the news coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak, MSNBC correspondent Mike Memoli is here to confirm your worst suspicions.
Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered an address Thursday on the outbreak and what he believes must be done to stop its spread. But before the 2020 Democratic candidate even opened his mouth, Memoli was already explaining how the former vice president would undoubtedly draw a sharp and impressive contrast between himself and President Trump, who delivered remarks on the virus Wednesday evening in an error-riddled address from the Oval Office.
The Biden campaign really could not have asked for a better opportunity, the MSNBC correspondent said. It is almost as if the White House’s response to the coronavirus outbreak has been a “gift” to the Biden campaign.
This is what we call saying the quiet part out loud.
“When the former vice president addressed briefly the coronavirus in his election night remarks on Tuesday, he called this a presidential moment,” Memoli said. “But … I don’t think the Biden campaign could have expected that the White House, that President Trump would essentially gift wrap them such an opportunity, when they scheduled these remarks, to do what they’ve been really wanting to do for this entire campaign.”
And what is it that the Biden campaign has been really wanting to do for this entire campaign?
“Offer voters a really side-by-side comparison of the type of presidential leadership Joe Biden would offer and has experienced in the White House eight years himself, versus what we see from President Trump,” Memoli said.
The speech will “be presidential, not political,” he added, citing a Biden campaign aide.
“Biden will … be clear-eyed about the challenges that we face in dealing with the coronavirus and offer thoughtful ideas about how to address it,” the MSNBC reporter said. “And it’s also a moment where they say where he will give voters a [real] look at how Joe Biden would address challenges as president.”
Biden, Memoli continued, is “really at the moment where he wants to be seen as the next likely president of the United States, and this [COVID-19 speech] gives him an opportunity to do that.”
Later, after Biden delivered his address, Memoli kept at it, hoisting the Democratic candidate’s campaign upon the shoulders of a deadly pandemic.
“Today, the substance was important of course, and he released a plan that was more than 7,000 words long, but this was about Joe Biden modeling, frankly, presidential behavior to the country at a time when he and his campaign believe that that is lacking in the White House right now,” the correspondent said.
He added, “And this plan that he released dealt with a number of things that Biden has a lot of experience with as the vice president, both in overseeing the economic recovery package that was so important, but also in the Ebola response.”
In case you were wondering, Memoli is not the only person in the news media who claims Trump’s handling of the crisis has been a godsend for the Biden campaign.
“Joe Biden there with a speech on how he would deal with coronavirus,” CNN’s Brianna Keilar said Thursday following the former vice president’s address. “He started by saying that this virus has laid bare the shortcomings of this administration. He went through them. The hollowing out of agencies, he said, the disparaging of science, the damage to the credibility and relationships around the world.”
She added, “But sort of big picture here, the president last night, he kind of whiffed at his chance to convince Americans that he has a plan for dealing with the spread of the virus here domestically, and he just set the stage for Joe Biden to kind of walk on in and look presidential.”
We see what you all are doing.
