On Saturday's PoliticsNation show, MSNBC host Al Sharpton devoted a segment to claiming that President Donald Trump has stoked up racism against Asian-Americans by accurately linking the COVID-19 virus to China.
He also incorrectly claimed that President Trump had not spoken out against anti-Asian racism even though the President did so not only on Twitter but also in one of his televised press conferences.
Sharpton introduced the segment by recalling a survey finding that an increase in anti-Asian bigotry, and then complained about some of President Trump's tweets that linked the virus to China. Here's Sharpton: "And, despite warnings from the Asian community about the danger of his rhetoric, President Trump has continually referred to COVID-19 as the, quote, 'Chinese virus.'"
After bringing aboard three Asian-American guests to discuss the issue, the MSNBC host recalled that, after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush spoke out to defend Muslim-Americans, with the MSNBC host then claiming that President Trump had not spoken out against such bias against Asian-Americans:
SHARPTON: I remember the reaction after 9/11 where President Bush -- who certainly was not one that people felt was one that brought a spirit of inclusion to every scene -- but he went out and PRed a lot about "this is not a Muslim attack -- this is a specific attack by some extremists who call themselves extremist Islamists." I remember the same with other incidents. We've seen it much different with this President where he's actually called it a Chinese virus and has continually raised that -- tweeted that -- and we've seen no campaign from this administration saying, "Do not in any way use this as a bias against Asian-Americans or Chinese-Americans."
One of the show's guests -- MSNBC weekend anchor Richard Lui -- flirted with correcting Sharpton by vaguely referring to a March 23 statement by the President which Lui portrayed as having "countered" the President calling the virus the "Wuhan virus" and "Chinese virus":
RICHARD LUI, MSNBC WEEKEND ANCHOR: Yeah, Rev, context is important, although the President did come out on March 23rd with a tweet that countered his use of "Wuhan virus," "Chinese virus," which many communities -- many voices, including yours, Rev -- said this is not the way either properly to use the terminology from the CDC or what is good for a collective America.
But Lui's vague acknowledgement of President Trump's statement did not clarify the President forthrightly spoke up in favor of Asian-Americans. Not only did he use his Twitter account to defend Asians, but he also gave a live statement at one of his press briefings on March 23:
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's very important that we totally protect our Asian-American community in the United States and all around the world. They're amazing people, and the spreading of the virus is not their fault in any way, shape, or form. They're working closely with us to get rid of it. We will prevail together. It's very important.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Saturday, May 2, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
PoliticsNation
5/2/2020
5:34 p.m. Eastern
AL SHARPTON: The coronavirus pandemic is a public health emergency, but the fallout isn't limited to America's hospitals. A recent IPSOS poll shows over 30 percent of Americans have witnessed someone blaming Asian people for the disease. And, of the Asian Pacific-Americans polled, 60 percent said they'd seen some of the same behavior. And, despite warnings from the Asian community about the danger of his rhetoric, President Trump has continually referred to COVID-19 as the, quote, "Chinese virus."
(…)
I remember the reaction after 9/11 where President Bush -- who certainly was not one that people felt was one that brought a spirit of inclusion to every scene -- but he went out and PRed a lot about "this is not a Muslim attack -- this is a specific attack by some extremists who call themselves extremist Islamists." I remember the same with other incidents. We've seen it much different with this President where he's actually called it a Chinese virus and has continually raised that -- tweeted that -- and we've seen no campaign from this administration saying, "Do not in any way use this as a bias against Asian-Americans or Chinese-Americans."
RICHARD LUI, MSNBC WEEKEND ANCHOR: Yeah, Rev, context is important, although the President did come out on March 23rd with a tweet that countered his use of "Wuhan virus," "Chinese virus," which many communities -- many voices, including yours, Rev -- said this is not the way either properly to use the terminology from the CDC or what is good for a collective America.
And when we look at the context, all we have to do is look back to post-9/11 when another Asian-American community -- Muslim Americans, many of which are Asian-American -- were effected by the language and the after effect of 9/11. Then, we go back to the Chinese Exclusion Act -- we go back to the American internment of Japanese-Americans. These are other contextual understandings to say we don't want this today.
