As COVID-19 sweeps across the country, CNN's Chris Cuomo is certain that Donald Trump is to blame for the surge in panic buying as he declared in a sometimes misleading and other times mocking address to viewers Friday evening. The CNN host even pinned the scarcity in toilet paper on the President: “When you know things are serious, and Trump is feeding you a lot of BS, what do you do? You go for the TP.”
After playing a clip of HHS Secretary Alex Azar telling the country that stocking up on toilet paper won't save them from the virus, Cuomo accused him of, "joking but also missing the point." This upsurge in the hoarding of toilet paper is Trump's fault, he declared, "People are scared. A pandemic is scary. And the reality is not helped by a president who abused the truth."
Cuomo then played another short clip, this one of Trump's admittedly unwise comments comparing COVID-19 to the common flu. He then appointed himself the presidential mind reader, "He downplayed the threat and did so for selfish reasons, by calling this virus another move on him."
To illustrate his point, he played yet another snippet of Trump at a rally, where Trump said, "Now, the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus… As you say how's President Trump doing? They go, 'oh, not good. Not good.' This is the new hoax." (CNN's ellipsis)
The hoax Trump was referring to was obviously the idea that he wasn't doing anything to combat the spread of the virus, but Cuomo decided to repeat the debunked version, "New hoax. How do you like that now? The truth is spreading as fast as the virus, so even the president has to own it. And the other night, you saw the reality. He is as overwhelmed as anyone."
Cuomo then played one final clip of Trump where Trump sounded unwell, to which Cuomo mockingly responded, "Whoa. I hope I don't catch a case of that, whatever that is."
Getting back to the issue of panic buying, Cuomo argued, "So on one level, it makes sense. When you know things are serious, and Trump is feeding you a lot of BS, what do you do? You go for the TP." Cuomo concluded by reassuring CNN viewers that he will hold Trump accountable for his lies.
There is another possible explanation for the upswing in panic buying. Experts have said that the range of deaths could range from as low as 327 to as high as 1.635 million. Guess which one the media choses for their headlines?
Here is a transcript for the March 13 show:
CNN
Cuomo Prime Time
9:51 PM ET
CHRIS CUOMO: All right. Azar's joking but also missing the point. People are scared. A pandemic is scary. And the reality is not helped by a president who abused the truth.
BEGIN CLIPDONALD TRUMP: But, that's a little bit like the flu. It's a little like the regular flu.
END CLIP
CUOMO: Yeah. And it's a lot not like it. He downplayed the threat and did so for selfish reasons, by calling this virus another move on him.
BEGIN CLIP
TRUMP: Now, the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus… As you say how's President Trump doing? They go, “oh, not good. Not good.” This is the new hoax.END CLIP
CUOMO: New hoax. How do you like that now? The truth is spreading as fast as the virus, so even the president has to own it. And the other night, you saw the reality. He is as overwhelmed as anyone.BEGIN CLIP
TRUMP: I am confident that by continuing to take these tough measures.END CLIP
CUOMO: Whoa. I hope I don't catch a case of that, whatever that is. So on one level, it makes sense. When you know things are serious, and Trump is feeding you a lot of BS, what do you do? You go for the TP. Reason number two. It gives us a sense of control. Why? I want to know I did everything I could. I feel helpless. Right down to the last roll. Number three. Well, you got to think about this one. You heard others are going to the store so you decided to go. I did the same thing. Now, Steven Taylor, author of the Psychologic of Pandemics, that’s where I’m getting these reasons from, he puts it this way. We are “social creatures, we look to each other for cues, what's safe, what's dangerous. And when you see someone in the store panic buying, that can cause its own kind of contagion.” So turns out that anticipation of Corona may be worse than Corona itself. Why? 80% of us who get this virus, God forbid, many of us won't even know that we have it. But 100% of those who panic and hoard are absolutely keeping others from having enough. This is not a drill. It is not fake news. The only fake part is Trump lying to you about the realities early on when he knew better. Now look, the real deal is the media, this show, we will hold power to account.
