On Thursday, the NBC and CBS morning shows kept pushing the narrative that President Trump’s use of the phrase “Chinese virus” was “racist” and endangering people. NBC even attempted to claim that China “helped” the rest of the world by “delaying” the spread of coronavirus.
“The President yesterday referred to this as a ‘China virus,’ but the World Health Organization has really pushed back on this, saying that is absolutely not the appropriate description,” correspondent Tom Costello scolded on NBC’s Today show. He then lectured Trump: “They say that the virus knows no borders and there is no racial association with this virus.”
The reporter never bothered to mention the President’s explanation for using the term was about holding China’s authoritarian government accountable for its dishonesty about the initial spread of the virus – not a racial statement.
On CBS This Morning, correspondent Weijia Jiang at least provided some of that context:
JIANG: President Trump is also under fire for frequently referring to coronavirus as the “Chinese virus.” The President says the virus originated in China and he’s pushing back on a Chinese official who had suggested the U.S. military brought the disease to Wuhan.
DONALD TRUMP: It’s not racist at all. No, not at all. It comes from China, I want to be accurate.
However, like Costello, she still insisted: “But many Asian Americans say it is racist and that the President’s actions have led to a growing number of attacks on the community, both verbal and physical.”
During Wednesday’s press conference, ABC’s Cecilia Vega and PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor teamed up to accuse the President of racism over the phrase.
Beyond going after Trump, NBC’s Today show on Thursday actually tried to argue that China had done the world a favor with it’s response to COVID-19. Foreign correspondent Keir Simmons declared:
China initially downplayed the threat, but Asia’s experience of viruses like SARS meant millions of Chinese people were prepared for draconian measures....And China and South Korea and Asian countries, those Asian countries, Hoda, may have helped western Europe and America by delaying the arrival the coronavirus here, but now they are worrying that they may get re-infected by the coronavirus from the rest of the world.
While Simmons rightfully gave credit to South Korea for taking “a different, decisive, and effective approach,” he also amazingly included China in the praise.
The Chinese communist regime’s slow response to the virus, complete lack of transparency about the spread of the disease, and outright lying caused the global pandemic, it did not “delay” the crisis.
