Conceited CNN host Jake Tapper was supposedly a journalist, but has proven himself to be a liberal activist. Tapper concluded Sunday’s State of the Union by lashing out at congressional Republicans and those within the Trump administration by declaring history will remember them as "villains." Although, Dr. Deborah Birx of the Coronavirus Task Force did put him in his place for trying to continue to score political points against President Trump during a crisis.
It was clear that Tapper could not, or perhaps would not, keep his animosity from corrupting his reporting. “We're running out of words to describe this era. Republicans in Congress and in the Trump administration know that not only is the President failing to rise to this moment to, for example, get the nation on a path to widespread testing, the President is now making open ponderings about treatments that experts worry could actually harm people,” he declared.
“His anti-scientific musings have been dangerous,” Tapper added as he decried Trump for “downplaying the virus.” Meanwhile, CNN host Anderson Cooper once did a segment in the early days of the outbreak claiming the virus was less deadly than the flu, and that’s not to mention CNN’s other similar reporting.
Tapper went on to demand Republican leaders “acknowledge the reality of the situation” and “intervene” to stop Trump, because he only cared about his “ego” and not “the sick and the dying and the people trying to care for them.”
“There is going to be a history of this era written. And those who are pretending this irresponsibility is not happening, they will be remembered as villains,” he threatened.
That bitter, self-indulgent rant showed Tapper was unphased by Dr. Birx, who earlier in the show schooled him on Trump’s sloppy comments about UV light and disinfectants. She also scolded him for continuing to bring it up when there was more important, possibly lifesaving information to get to the public.
In back-to-back questions, Tapper pressed Birx and tried to make her get political. “I understand that you're taking a generous approach to this when it comes to President Trump musing aloud,” he sneered, clearly frustrated with his upset. “But this is potentially dangerous. (…) As a doctor, doesn't that bother you, that you have to even spend any time discussing this?”
“Well, I think it bothers me that this is still in the news cycle, because I think we're missing the bigger pieces of what we need to be doing as an American people,” Dr. Birx shot back. “So, I think, as a scientist and a public health official and a researcher, sometimes I worry that we don't get the information to the American people that they need when we continue to bring up something that was from Thursday night.”
Fuming and putting words in the Birx’s mouth, Tapper opined: “Well, I would agree with that. I would say that I think the source of the misinformation is not the news media on this.” At no point did she accuse him or the media of circulating “misinformation.”
Although, that has been something the media has done during the crisis. As recently as last week, CNN and the rest of the liberal media pushed unsupported allegations an HHS official was fired for opposing hydroxychloroquine. The claims were almost immediately debunked but CNN continued to push them anyway as other outlets backed off.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s State of the Union
April 26, 2020
9:26:32 a.m. Eastern(…)
JAKE TAPPER: There was an odd moment on Thursday when President Trump at the briefing mused aloud about whether injecting UV light or disinfectant into the human body as a way to treat coronavirus could be something that you look into. You were sitting right there, as you know. Take a listen.
(…)
TAPPER: Dr. Birx, I just want to give you the opportunity right now. What should the American people know about disinfectants and the human body?
DR. DEBORAH BIRX: Well, first, that was a dialogue he was having between the DHA scientists and himself for information that he had received and he was discussing. We have made it clear and when he turned to me I made it clear and he understood that it was not as a treatment. And I think that kind of dialogue will happen.
I think what got lost in there, which is very unfortunate, I think, in what happened next, is that study was critically important for the American people. And you say why was that important? Because we had an MIT study just from a few weeks ago that suggests when people are talking and singing, aerosolized virus could be moving forward. What this study showed for the first time is that sunlight can impact that aerosolization outside.
TAPPER: Right.
This is why we asked them to do it. We're trying to understand why people should be wearing masks. You’re wearing masks because you could have asymptomatic infection and it will decrease your transmission to others. And I think the half-life in the sunlight is really important as we move forward to really understand how we can effectively create decontaminations in different environments.
TAPPER: You know. Look, get it, and I understand the importance of that study that the DHS official was discussing from the lab in Maryland about the effect of sunlight on having or even more effectively the life of coronavirus. The effect of disinfectants on nonporous solids like doorknobs.
But that's not what the President was musing about. He was talking about ways to take that science and somehow turn it into injecting UV light or disinfectants into the human body, which as you know, especially with disinfectants, can be lethal. And the CDC had to issue a statement, Lysol had to issue a statement.
I understand that you're taking a generous approach to this when it comes to President Trump musing aloud. But this is potentially dangerous. I mean, Poison Control centers got calls from people and they had to issue statements saying do not internally use disinfectants. As a doctor, doesn't that bother you, that you have to even spend any time discussing this?
BIRX: Well, I think it bothers me that this is still in the news cycle, because I think we're missing the bigger pieces of what we need to be doing as an American people, to continue to protect one another, and we should be having that dialogue about asymptomatics, we should be having that dialogue about this unique clotting that we're seeing. And you know, we're the first country that really had young people to this degree. Italy and Europe is about eight years older than us as a median age. So, this is our first experience of this virus in an open society where we really can understand what's happening to every different age group.
These are the things that we should be talking about and focusing on. So I think as a scientist and a public health official and a researcher, sometimes I worry that we don't get the information to the American people that they need when we continue to bring up something that was from Thursday night.
So, I think I've answered that question. I think that the President made it clear that physicians had to study this. I think I've made it clear that this was a musing, as you described. But I want us to move on to be able to get information to the American people that can help them protect each other and also help them understand how devastating this virus is to different age groups and different symptoms and different comorbidities.
TAPPER: Well, I would agree with that. I would say that I think the source of the misinformation is not the news media on this.
(…)
9:57:40 a.m. Eastern
TAPPER: We're running out of words to describe this era. Republicans in Congress and in the Trump administration know that not only is the President failing to rise to this moment to, for example, get the nation on a path to widespread testing, the President is now making open ponderings about treatments that experts worry could actually harm people.
His anti-scientific musings have been dangerous. We saw this with his weeks of downplaying the virus. Two months ago today, the President said he had done a good job since the U.S. had only 15 cases, which would soon go down to almost zero. Then the President was pushing the use of hydroxychloroquine. What have you got to lose, he said? Well, the FDA on Friday issued a caution against the use of that drug outside of a hospital or a clinical trial due to the risk of heart rhythm problems.
Republican leaders need to acknowledge the reality of the situation. They need to intervene. They need to convince President Trump to defer to the experts and focus on the needs of not his ego but the sick and the dying and the people trying to care for them. There is going to be a history of this era written. And those who are pretending this irresponsibility is not happening, they will be remembered as villains.
