After Friday's White House coronavirus press conference, Andrea Mitchell and MSNBC national security analyst Jeremy Bash decried alleged instances of race-baiting and xenophobia from President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo and claimed it was they who were provoking international tensions during a time when the world should be coming together.
Mitchell asked Bash, who joined the show on the phone to comment, "about the recriminations towards China, both the president and the secretary of state both used the phrase 'China Virus' even though the scientists, the experts say that we should not be referring to it that way. We don't refer to swine flu as the American virus."
While Mitchell is correct about swine flu, there are plenty of diseases are named after places in the United States, to take just one example, Lyme disease is named after the small town of Lyme, Connecticut.
Bash answered by declaring that Trump and Pompeo are obviously being racist, "Well, I think, Andrea, we all know what's going on here. This is race-baiting, this is a form of xenophobia." He then accused them, not the Chinese government that has been lying about conspiracy theories involving the U.S. military, "of trying to make the crisis that we're all facing into somewhat of a nationalistic crisis or a U.S. versus China crisis."
Continuing to lay blame on Trump and Pompeo and ignore Beijing's lies, he declared:
[T]he reality is that pandemics like this, is one of the few examples that shows everybody in the world is in the same boat. We're all part of a common humanity and we all have to solve this problem together. And the idea we would try to drive wedges between countries, whether or not we agree with them or don't agree with them, we work with them or don't work with them on other issues, is somewhat besides the point. This public health crisis requires a president, a statesman, to reach out to any country willing to work with the United States and the global community to solve this problem.
It would have been nice if the Communist Party was "willing to work with the United States and the global community to solve this problem" instead of covering it up and blaming it on the United States military. It would also be nice if the media criticized China for those actions as much as they criticized Trump and Pompeo for alleged instances of racism.
Here is a transcript for the March 20 show:
MSNBC
Andrea Mitchell Reports (delayed due to press conference)
1:33 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: And what about the recriminations towards China, both the president and the secretary of state both used the phrase “China Virus” even though the scientists, the experts say that we should not be referring to it that way. We don't refer to swine flu as the American Virus.
JEREMY BASH [VIA PHONE CALL]: Well, I think, Andrea, we all know what's going on here. This is race-baiting, this is a form of xenophobia, this a form of trying to make the crisis that we're all facing into somewhat of a nationalistic crisis or a U.S. versus China crisis and the reality is that pandemics like this is one of the few examples that shows everybody in the world is in the same boat. We're all part of a common humanity and we all have to solve this problem together. And the idea we would try to drive wedges between countries, whether or not we agree with them or don't agree with them, we work with them or don't work with them on other issues, is somewhat besides the point this public health crisis requires a president, a statesman, to reach out to any country willing to work with the United States and the global community to solve this problem.
