Wait a second: is CNN mislabeling Jonathan Reiner? They describe him as their "medical analyst"—but is he in fact their "legal analyst?" Because on today's New Day, Reiner wasn't content to merely blame President Trump for coronavirus-related deaths. Nope: Reiner declared Trump guilty of a very specific crime: "negligent homicide."
Co-host Alisyn Camerota framed it this way: "Dr. Reiner, you called at what the president did last night at this indoor rally with thousands of people, most if not many not wearing masks, you call it negligent homicide. Why?"
Reiner's legal theory was that President Trump is guilty of negligent homicide because he held a Nevada rally at which masks were not mandatory. Reiner then made a ghoulish suggestion: that if President Trump sincerely believes there is no danger, he should "vigorously" shake supporters' hands at rope lines. Should a doctor really be prescribing something he considers potentially deadly? Whatever happened to that Hippocratic Oath thing about doing no harm?
Camerota loved the line so much she used it twice:
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Coronavirus has killed more than 194,000 Americans and doctors are bracing for an uptick around Henderson, Nevada, after President Trump insisted on holding a crowded rally indoors last night. Thousands of people packed together, most not wearing masks. The rally was in open defiance of a state ban on gatherings of more than 50 people. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who we will hear from in a moment, calls the rally, quote, negligent homicide.
Camerota actually suggested that the prez might lack the "energy" to conduct contact tracing. Love Trump or not, but accusing him of lacking energy is patently absurd. The guy is the Energizer Bunny of politics. The contrast with Sleepy Joe couldn't be more glaring. As our P.J. Gladnick has pointed out, Biden's handlers have taken to declaring frequent "lids"--a notice that Ol' Joe will not be conducting any public events for the day. Go back to the basement, Joe: we'll let you know when the, when the, you know, the thing, is over. C'mon man!
CNN's "medical analyst" accusing President Trump of "negligent homicide" was sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual. Contact Liberty Mutual at the Conservatives Fight Back link, and let them know what you think of CNN accusing President Trump of homicide.
Here's the transcript. Click "expand" to read more.
CNN
New Day
9-14-20
7:00 am EDTALISYN CAMEROTA: Coronavirus has killed more than 194,000 Americans and doctors are bracing for an uptick around Henderson, Nevada, after President Trump insisted on holding a crowded rally indoors last night. Thousands of people packed together, most not wearing masks. The rally was in open defiance of a state ban on gatherings of more than 50 people. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who we will hear from in a moment, calls the rally, quote, negligent homicide.
. . .
JOHN BERMAN: Joining us now is the aforementioned CNN medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He's a professor of medicine at George Washington University and the cardiologist for former Vice-president Dick Cheney. And Dr. Reiner, you called at what the president did last night at this indoor rally with thousands of people, most if not many not wearing masks, you call it negligent homicide. Why?
JONATHAN REINER: Well, that's what you call the actions of somebody who through their negligence causes the death of other people. We're in a pandemic. And Clark county, Nevada, has a lot of virus. So, with thousands of people, there is complete certainty that there are people in that crowd, probably asymptomatic carriers of the virus, who will spread the virus . . . And I would respectfully suggest to the president that if he thinks it's safe to gather thousands of people in a pandemic without masks, then he should go down to the rope line and vigorously shake some hands at the end of the event. If he thinks there's very little risk to his attendees, then he should have no problem shaking some hands at the end of the event.
CAMEROTA: That's really interesting.
REINER: You won't see that.
CAMEROTA: That's interesting, doctor, because what we did see was much of his staff wearing masks. And, you know, I mean, of course the president took prophylactic hydroxychloroquine for two weeks. We know he's worried about catching coronavirus, but then these actions just fly in the face of what any, you know, considerate person would do for others.
REINER: We heard last night at the event, the president essentially mocking Biden, because he said that if his medical adviser suggested shutting down, he would shut down. The president mocked him for that. That's what a leader should do. That's what they're doing now in Israel when they're seeing a spike. They're shutting down again. That's a scientific response to a pandemic.
CAMEROTA: Yeah, I mean, not to mention, contact tracing, that I suppose President Trump just didn't have the energy or know-how to do!
