
As President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act during a White House briefing Wednesday afternoon, he spoke of the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic in the same manner that a commander in chief would speak of war.
“I view it as a, in a sense, a wartime president [would view the crisis],” he said. “I mean, that’s what we’re fighting. I mean, it’s — it’s a very tough situation.”
One that’s ravaged the country just as a war might.
“You’re — you have to do things,” he continued. “You have to — you have to close parts of an economy that six weeks ago were the best they’ve ever been. We had the best economy we’ve ever had. And then, one day, you have to close it down in order to defeat this enemy. And — but we’re doing it, and we’re doing it well.”
Listen:
President Trump says he considers himself a “wartime president” during the coronavirus response https://t.co/yMZlZ5gV1w pic.twitter.com/X5EmLxAAup
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 18, 2020
He also portrayed the coronavirus itself as an “unseen enemy.”
“I call it the unseen enemy,” he said. “You call it — there’s a thousand different terms for it, but whatever — it snuck up on us. And it’s — it did 128 countries, I think. It’s in something like that — very close to that. Think of that. So it spreads violently. It’s a very contagious — very, very contagious virus.”
Listen:
Trump: “I call it the unseen enemy. There’s a thousand different terms for it. It snuck up on us. It did 128 countries, something like that, very close to that. It spreads violently, very contagious. Very very contagious.” pic.twitter.com/VSWzmdiJwk
— Samantha-Jo Roth (@SamanthaJoRoth) March 18, 2020
In response to his earnest evaluation of a crisis that has decimated the world, John Heilemann of MSNBC pounced:
From to denial to downplaying and now to racist, xenopohobic “wartime president” jingoism. #trumpplaybookpic.twitter.com/IYM5B38QV0
— John Heilemann (@jheil) March 18, 2020
To be fair, Heilemann is a radically far-left partisan who’s previously falsely equated immigration detention centers to “concentration camps” and falsely accused the president of running “a racist re-election campaign.”
However, his disturbing rhetoric caught on with a host of everyday left-wing Americans:
So when some crazy person starts shooting any Asian person they see I assume trump will of course not take responsibility.
He is pure evil, along with his propaganda machines at FOX & right wing radio hate mongers.— sad in altfactworld (@SAltfactworld) March 18, 2020
Just when you hoped he couldn’t go any lower.
— John (@mainer555) March 18, 2020
Trump calling himself a “wartime president” is a slap in the face to every true wartime president & to everyone who ever served in a war!!
— Pat G (@pmgref) March 18, 2020
Pay attention to what he is doing. Trump is trying to change the conversation to race baiting. As disgusting as he is we need to focus on what he isn’t doing.
— Bridget Davis (@Bridget826) March 18, 2020
There really is no hope that trump will ever have an ounce of being a good, decent human being.
— Jocelyn Shaw (@MissPhosphorus) March 18, 2020
I imagine he’s going to roll those tests out in tanks, while fighter jets do flyovers dropping propaganda pamphlets and hand sanitizer. Trump gets to have a war with no generals. #TrumpIsTheWORSTPresidentEVER #TrumpPressConference #coronavirus
— Natalie Scala (@njscala) March 18, 2020
Meanwhile, in the real world, a large number of high-profile individuals have echoed the same “wartime” rhetoric, albeit without being smeared by the likes of Heilemann.
In fact, the radical contributor’s own MSNBC colleague, Joe Scarborough, had said just a day earlier that the coronavirus pandemic is like World War II.
Speaking about the fact that up to two million Americans could die of the coronavirus, Scarborough remarked, “[That’s] more Americans than died in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and the Civil War combined. It is a staggering number.”
“The White House is unusually focused and frightened about what is coming. … It’s all hands on deck. This isn’t like 9/11. This is like World War II. It is going to change the way we live as Americans. And the atmosphere inside the White House was very sober.”
Listen:
https://youtu.be/1kNI6_SA9QY
It’s not clear why Heilemann has yet to accuse his colleague of being “racist” and “xenophobic” …
Nor is it clear why he hasn’t also attacked Axios, a mainstream establishment news portal that ran a story Tuesday about how the “coronavirus pandemic is a disaster with no modern parallels” and how it may lead to “the most sustained period of widespread public pain since World War II.”
Dovetailing back to the president, he followed up his briefing remarks with tweets in which he again echoed the wartime rhetoric of earlier.
Look:
I want all Americans to understand: we are at war with an invisible enemy, but that enemy is no match for the spirit and resolve of the American people…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020
…It cannot overcome the dedication of our doctors, nurses, and scientists — and it cannot beat the LOVE, PATRIOTISM, and DETERMINATION of our citizens. Strong and United, WE WILL PREVAIL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020
Today I spoke with American physicians and nurses to thank them for their tireless work. Doctors and nurses are at the front lines of this war and are true American HEROES! With their help, America will WIN.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020
STRONG & UNITED, WE WILL PREVAIL! pic.twitter.com/T6UCyaPRIy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020
Besides smearing the president for correctly portraying the coronavirus pandemic as a war, the media have also been trashing him for correctly referring to the coronavirus pandemic as the Chinese Wuhan coronavirus.
By doing so, they’ve been essentially touting Chinese Communist government talking points.
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