Over the last few months, the liberal media have looked the other way as crowds who share their political bent packed the streets in cities across the country and undoubtedly spread the coronavirus. But at the same time, they’ve decried every time President Trump’s supporters gathered at his rallies and other political events. But during a Wednesday appearance on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh confronted the network over its hypocrisy.
Partway through their interview, host Erin Burnett acted as the personal messenger of Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, and pressed Murtaugh on whether or not Trump’s upcoming rally on Friday would “comply” with his orders:
He said, he had a message for you. He said -- with the President, “Wear a mask. I would tell the President to wear a mask, have your supporters to wear a mask.” That is the regulation in his state, of course. Gathering not to exceed 250 people. Masks. Six feet. Social distancing. Are you going to comply with those regulations?
“At every one of the President’s events, we conduct a temperature check for everyone who goes in,” Murtaugh shot back. “We hand out masks, encourage people to wear them, and we have hand sanitizer, more than any group of people could ever possibly use.”
Murtaugh continued to press the offense by calling out Walz for not caring about masks and social distancing when protesters were packing the streets and rioters were torching homes and businesses. “And so if people can protest in the streets by the tens of thousands, if people can riot, if people can gamble in casinos, then certainly they can gather peaceably under the First Amendment to hear from the president of the United States,” he declared.
Reiterating the safety precautions that would be followed at the rally, he made the case that the First Amendment rights of Trump’s supporters needed to be protected too: “It's going to be largely outdoors, and we take great health and safety precautions for the people who attend. But the people who attend President Trump's rallies also have First Amendment rights.”
Upon hearing her guest’s defense of the First Amendment rights of people CNN loathes, Burnett ranted about how two wrongs don’t make a right:
So, one thing that’s frustrated me about this -- and I understand the point you make about hypocrisy and there was – there was plenty of it going around at the time. But one thing that I’m not able to get my arms around is how do multiple wrongs ever add up to a right?
“How can you hear that and not beg your supporters to wear [masks],” Burnett demanded to know after playing a soundbite of CDC Director Robert Redfield.
Murtaugh popped her false narrative by reminded viewers how “the President has encouraged Americans to wear masks. He's done it many times from the very White House press briefing room where you saw him speaking earlier.”
He then called out the Democratic ticket for being “reckless” stoking fear of any coronavirus vaccine developed under the Trump administration. “It is Joe Biden who has turned this into a political issue and is trying to frighten people away from a potentially lifesaving vaccine. It's reckless and he's only doing it because he believes it helps him politically,” he said before Burnett shifted to whining about Trump’s tweets against Joe Biden.
Erin Burnett’s combative instinct against the First Amendment rights of Trump supporters were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from the USAA and PC Matic. Their contact information is linked so you can let them know about the biased news they’re funded.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront
September 16, 2020
7:38:14 p.m. Eastern(…)
ERIN BURNETT: I want to ask you about something you are intimately involved in, of course, Tim. Which is the President heading to Minnesota on Friday for a campaign event. And I don't know if you heard but we just spoke to the governor there, Governor Walz. And he was very clear. He said, he had a message for you. He said -- with the President, “Wear a mask. I would tell the President to wear a mask, have your supporters to wear a mask.” That is the regulation in his state, of course. Gathering not to exceed 250 people. Masks. Six feet. Social distancing. Are you going to comply with those regulations?
TIM MURTAUGH: At every one of the President’s events, we conduct a temperature check for everyone who goes in. We hand out masks, encourage people to wear them, and we have hand sanitizer, more than any group of people could ever possibly use.
But I would point out that it's dangerous when you're picking and choosing whose First Amendment rights are protected. Governor Walz had no problem with the people protests in the streets of Minneapolis and elsewhere in Minnesota and didn't express concern about social distancing or masks at that time. And also I would point out that people burning down the buildings and small businesses in Minneapolis I suspect were not social distancing at the time.
And so if people can protest in the streets by the tens of thousands, if people can riot, if people can gamble in casinos, then certainly they can gather peaceably under the First Amendment to hear from the president of the United States.
And this event coming up in Minnesota is in an airplane hangar, as I saw you mention.
BURNETT: Yes.
MURTAUGH: It's going to be largely outdoors, and we take great health and safety precautions for the people who attend. But the people who attend President Trump's rallies also have First Amendment rights.
BURNETT: So, one thing that’s frustrated me about this -- and I understand the point you make about hypocrisy and there was – there was plenty of it going around at the time. But one thing that I’m not able to get my arms around is how do multiple wrongs ever add up to a right?
We know the science. We know that masks work. We know it. Right? It isn’t – So, just because somebody else jumped off a bridge doesn't mean that you should too. The CDC director's been so loud and clear about this, again even today here's what he said, Tim.
ROBERT REDFIELD (CDC director): We have clear scientific evidence they work and they are our best defense. I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.
BURNETT: How can you hear that and not beg your supporters to wear them?
MURTAUGH: Well, the President has encouraged Americans to wear masks. He's done it many times from the very White House press briefing room where you saw him speaking earlier. And as well, we were talking about the vaccine, the President wants the vaccine out for the health and safety of Americans as quickly as possible. There's no question of that.
I'll tell you what is reckless; is when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris purposefully try to scare people away from taking the vaccine, by casting doubt on its safety. And, in fact, targeting minority communities for that misinformation, telling black people and Latinos, who we know are at greater risk through the coronavirus crisis. Telling them they should be afraid of the vaccine, they themselves never actually answering a question: Would you take the vaccine?
BURNETT [Interrupting]: Well, Joe Biden has said he trusts the vaccine, that he would take the vaccine. He said that.
MURTAUGH: Joe Biden has made this into a political issue and has purposefully tried to scare people away from the vaccine. That is extremely reckless behavior to try to convince Americans that they should be suspicious of the vaccine that all of the doctors involved say has never been the subject of any political pressure.
It is Joe Biden who has turned this into a political issue and is trying to frighten people away from a potentially lifesaving vaccine. It's reckless and he's only doing it because he believes it helps him politically.
(…)
