During Monday’s edition of CNN’s At this Hour, guest host Brianna Keilar brought on the New York Times’ Science and Health reporter Donald McNeil Jr. to discuss the flu epidemic sweeping the nation. McNeil had previously written an article for the Times arguing that President Trump needs to do more to protect public health.
When asked about an eight percent drop in the number of Hispanics who received flu shots, McNeil pointed to President Trump’s “hostility to Spanish language and Hispanics” as a possible explanation, in addition to a “cut back in Spanish-language ads.” He then admitted that the facts disproved his wild speculation and that didn't actually know the reason for the statistic. McNeil’s conjecture serves as a perfect example of a conspiracy theory, which the left always mocks the right for buying into. When the left has no other argument, they will always resort to the race card.
McNeil concluded the interview by scolding President Trump for boasting in a 2015 interview that he had never gotten a flu shot and encouraged him to tell the truth about whether or not he gets flu shots. He also said that expecting the President to tell the truth is “a pretty low bar to reach.”
During the interview, McNeil admitted that the number of Americans getting flu shots by November has slowly declined in recent years. Therefore, it makes little sense for him to place all of the blame at the foot of President Trump.
The abusively biased media will no doubt continue to blame President Trump for every misfortune that afflicts the United States during his tenure, regardless of whether or not he bears any responsibility. Even the President could not have predicted that he would soon face blame for the flu epidemic.
While the flu season will soon come to an end, the media’s accusations of racism against President Trump will surely continue through the spring, summer, and fall.
At This Hour with Kate Bolduan
02/12/18
11:45 AM
BRIANNA KEILAR: So one statistic, you highlight a number of them and they’re all so interesting. One is, you say, look, in any given year, about 40 percent of Americans get the flu. They get the flu shot by November each year, obviously that’s inadequate. You talk about a slight drop going into this flu season. And then if you look specifically at a certain cohort at Hispanic adults, you’re looking at an almost 8 percent drop. Why is that, do you think?
DONALD McNEIL: I asked and I don’t know. I did not...I wondered if maybe because of you know, President Trump’s hostility to Spanish language and Hispanics, maybe there has been a cut back in Spanish language ads, maybe there have been some, you know, cutback in the number of mobile flu clinics. But the CDC said no, they just, they don’t know the reason. So I didn’t try to put in. But the fact is that getting flu shots by November, which is when it matters, has been slowly declining over the years. And that’s been a problem. I mean, this is, this is...it’s an imperfect vaccine but it’s a whole lot better than, than nothing.
KEILAR: What does the President need to do?
McNEIL: It would be nice if he told the truth about whether he gets flu shots or doesn’t get flu shots. I realize that’s a pretty low bar to reach but he, you know, boasted in a radio interview in 2015 that he never had gotten the flu shot. He’s never addressed it since as far as I know. The White House physician who gave him that physical where everybody concentrated on his mental health, there were really no questions about the flu shot but I had noticed in the, in the outcome of the physical that yes, all of his vaccinations were up to date to include seasonal flu so I assume he’s had one. I assume maybe he’s given up his paranoia about, about the vaccines and maybe he ought to step forward and say, you know “I got one, it’s protecting me.” And he’s definitely in the high risk cohort. He is elderly and overweight by CDC standards and that is you know, elderly with underlying morbidity is the most likely to sicken and die in this epidemic. Other people could learn from his example if he would get up and speak about it.
