NBC political director Chuck Todd ended Sunday’s Meet the Press with the demand that people, particularly “elected officials” not criticize or bash the genocidal country of China as their “rivalry” with the United States “heats up.” Of course, this came as the network smeared a Georgia Sheriff with false claims of racism after the shootings at Asian spas in the Atlanta area by an apparent sex addict.
As the show was coming to a close, Todd led his panel in one final discussion about the spike in hate crimes directed at Asian-Americans around the country during the coronavirus pandemic, with his demands against the warranted criticism of China as the capstone:
Well look, unfortunately, I'm out of time there. And all these elected officials, when they talk about China, the country as a rival and an adversary to this country, be careful of your words. That matters, too. I know there's a lot of fear that as the rivalry heats up with China, that these hateful incidents will also increase here.
The attacks on Asian-Americans were terrible and tragic, but to demand that people not criticize or speak harshly about a country actively committing genocide against the Uighurs was ridiculous. Calling out the atrocities in China was not synonymous with stoking hate here at home.
As NewsBusters previously reported, NBC was taking part in a misinformation campaign by suggesting it was racist to simply acknowledge the fact that the pandemic started in China. When smearing Georgia Sheriff Captain Jay Baker over a social media post on Thursday, correspondent Blayne Alexander falsely suggested he was being “racist" and "anti-Asian" by sharing an image of a novelty shirt saying the virus came from China.
Just before Todd made his comments, Nevada Independent editor Jon Ralston blamed former President Trump for the violence because he would accurately say the pandemic started in Wuhan, China:
You know, Eddie [Glaude] said there's a through-line in this program. I think it is that words matter, Chuck. And while this existed long before Donald Trump, the fact that he had an utter lack of empathy during COVID, and that he was so desperate to escape political responsibility, that he continually used phrases like “the China virus” that clearly has exacerbated these problems based on the stats that you just put up there, Chuck.
But as it’s been reported, these attacks were occurring in liberal cities, and many of the attackers were members of other minority groups. In fact, Todd even admitted attacks were happening on the “west coast” where “the Asian-American populations are larger, more integrated, and yet we've been seeing these hate crimes out there, too.”
Again, the facts were damned by Princeton University professor and race-baiter, Eddie Glaude. According to him, the attacks were a symptom of the “panic around the whiteness of this country.” “We have to understand this within that frame,” he told Todd.
Chuck Todd’s ridiculous demands not to criticize a country actively committing genocide were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Chevron and Comcast. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC’s Meet the Press
March 21, 2021
11:24:44 a.m. Eastern(…)
CHUCK TODD: Eddie, I feel like this week has been one of those – you know, the Asian-American community has been talking about this for a year, basically, since the start of the pandemic. And it really took the rest of sort of collective political intelligentsia to take notice, sadly after the tragedy of this week.
EDDIE GLAUDE: Right. I mean, look, that community has always had to deal with two kinds of contrasting notions: them being viewed as a model minority and being viewed as a permanent foreigner. And we see when there's these moments of crises in the country, the idea of them being permanent foreigners subjects them to a kind of attack.
Let me say there's a through-line through the show today. From immigration, to voting rights, to DNI reports, to now. That through-line is this kind of panic around the whiteness of this country. And I think this is -- We have to understand this within that frame, Chuck.
(…)
TODD: Jon Ralston, being on the west coast, there's certainly, the Asian-American populations are larger, more integrated, and yet we've been seeing these hate crimes out there, too.
JON RALSTON (The Nevada Independent): We have indeed, Chuck. And it's all very distressing. And even though, as you pointed out, it's unclear whether the Atlanta shootings were a hate crime or not. It's good this discussion is occurring.
You know, Eddie said there's a through-line in this program. I think it is that words matter, Chuck. And while this existed long before Donald Trump, the fact that he had an utter lack of empathy during COVID, and that he was so desperate to escape political responsibility, that he continually used phrases like “the China virus” that clearly has exacerbated these problems based on the stats that you just put up there, Chuck.
And no law is going to solve that. This is a place where Joe Biden and especially Kamala Harris can do a lot of good I think.
TODD: Well look, unfortunately, I'm out of time there. And all these elected officials, when they talk about China, the country as a rival and an adversary to this country, be careful of your words. That matters, too. I know there's a lot of fear that, as the rivalry heats up with China, that these hateful incidents will also increase here.
That's all we have for today. Thank you all for watching.
