Talk about projecting, CNN’s Brian Stelter couldn’t scream louder that he’s all in for the Democratic Party than in mimicking one of the party’s go-to strategies.
In the face of Democrats and their media allies indisputably using the coronavirus to denigrate President Donald Trump, claiming he’s not up to the task of countering the virus that has thus far killed just one person in the U.S., Stelter dared to suggest that the president was politicizing the crisis.
In his opening monologue of Sunday’s edition of “Reliable Sources,” the CNN anchor reminds viewers “that fear is a virus too. And it can be just as damaging.” Stelter says news outlets “have a really important job to do,” which includes “conveying accurate information and part of the job is to tamp down on undue fears.”
He says this as he noted the first death in the U.S., calling it “a turning point” — all the while showing a world map of all the countries where the virus has been spread, with these countries shaded blood red.
“Unfortunately, this virus has infected the political arena in ways that are truly jaw-dropping,” Stelter then said, feigning outrage as he sets his sights on Trump.
“Pro-Trump media stars are defending Trump’s handling of the outbreak by accusing news outlets of rooting for the virus,” he said.
Stelter would then play a clip of talk radio host Rush Limbaugh saying, “It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump.”
He accused Rush of “cooking up partisan conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.”
Even the Associated Press is willing to call a spade a spade, saying Democrats “distort” events related to the virus, and the news agency is practically an extension of the party’s campaign arm.
There are Democrats outright lying about the President’s response to coronavirus. Bloomberg is actually running ads that say CDC funding was cut – & it’s patently false.
There is no need to politicize this important issue, but they can’t help themselves. https://t.co/LGBEGButJ2
— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) February 27, 2020
The AP had this to say of the 2020 Democratic field:
“Democratic presidential contenders are describing the federal infectious-disease bureaucracy as rudderless and ill-prepared for the coronavirus threat because of budget cuts and ham-handed leadership by President Donald Trump. That’s a distorted picture.”
After citing comments from acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Stelter highlighted Fox News personalities such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, referring to them as Trump’s “TV surrogates.”
“These talking points are bouncing back and forth between the Trumps and their TV surrogates, portraying the president as the victim-in-chief and going so far as to say the president’s perceived enemies actually want people to die,” Stelter said.
He then ran a clip of Donald Trump Jr. saying: “Anything that they can use to try to hurt Trump, they will. But for them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so they can end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness.”
“This is not the first time the Trump machine has conjured up a conspiracy narrative full of misinformation and fear-mongering,” Stelter said. “But this time, the backdrop is a public health emergency.”
Going back to Limbaugh, he cited the talk radio giant equating the coronavirus to the common cold, calling this an “irresponsible claim.”
“It’s all part of a Trump defense strategy fighting a virus by playing politics,” Stelter concluded with a straight face. “And the thing is this virus has no idea what political party anybody is in. It doesn’t care, it’s a non-partisan illness. But it’s spreading in a partisan war.”
Of course, outside of Fox News, which is marginalized across the media landscape, Stelter knows he can spew his nonsense which projects the very behavior seen on the left onto the president, with no repercussions whatsoever — outside of poor ratings, which CEO Jeff Zucker has made clear is acceptable in the quest to destroy Trump.
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
[email protected]
The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
