On her show Monday, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell and her Democrat panel used the Memorial Day holiday to attack President Trump “endangering troops” by not wearing a mask, while simultaneously fawning over Joe Biden and daydreaming that he was president instead.
While watching video footage of Joe and Jill Biden visiting a veterans’ memorial in Delaware, Mitchell praised the pair for “wearing masks” before fawning in admiration at their “really touching” visit. That somber, respectful tone took sharp contrast with how Mitchell and her guest attacked President Trump for also making Memorial Day tributes.
Former Obama administration and Hillary Clinton aide Jennifer Palmieri ripped the “catastrophically self-absorbed” president for golfing and calling for churches to reopen while not going himself. She then daydreamed about how Biden would “put Americans first” if he was president:
PALMIERI: Yeah, and it's such a juxtaposition when you see how Dr. Biden and Joe Biden are handling today compared to the way Trump has operated this weekend. I mean, even by the standards we've come to accept or come to expect from Donald Trump, this is remarkably in catastrophically self-absorbed, you know, the golfing, the tweets, the telling governors that they should open church but then going golfing instead of going to church himself, threatening to move the convention from Charlotte. And by the way, I bet you that convention is going to end up in Florida at mar-a-lago. I think that's what he's try to drive towards. But I imagine if Joe Biden were president this weekend, if Barack Obama were president, you know, as communication director, imagine the kind of weekend we would want to have prepared for America. You know, you would want the president to lead the country in a televised event, perhaps, that's mourning all of the loss that we've had. Do that throughout the weekend. Leave Monday to honor veterans. But definitely put the American people first. And what you did see instead is him putting himself and his grievances first.
Mitchell followed that up by spinning Biden campaigning virtually as a good thing, before accusing Trump of sacrificing American troops’ lives. To close out the segment, she left a morbid warning:
“The president, arguably, is endangering the troops, the people who have to travel with him, as well as the people that he meets along the way, and he has not been socially distancing or wearing a mask when he's around them, so, obviously time will tell.”
Read the transcript, below:
Andrea Mitchell Reports
5/25/20
ANDREA MITCHELL: And Jen Palmieri, Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden emerged for the first time from their home since March 15th, I believe. And it showed they were both wearing masks. They went to a war memorial in New Castle, Delaware. This is also almost the fifth anniversary of their son, a veteran, Beau Biden's death. So these are really touching -- a touching war memorial visit and the first time that he is coming out of his home, and I guess testing whether there were other safe ways that he can emerge, given his age, given the restrictions, and the fact that he is modeling what the government is saying to model, in contrast to the president, who's going against his own government.
JEN PALMIERI: Yeah, and it's such a juxtaposition when you see how Dr. Biden and Joe Biden are handling today compared to the way Trump has operated this weekend. I mean, even by the standards we've come to accept or come to expect from Donald Trump, this is remarkably in catastrophically self-absorbed, you know, the golfing, the tweets, the telling governors that they should open church but then going golfing instead of going to church himself, threatening to move the convention from Charlotte. And by the way, I bet you that convention is going to end up in Florida at mar-a-lago. I think that's what he's try to drive towards. But I imagine if Joe Biden were president this weekend, if Barack Obama were president, you know, as communication director, imagine the kind of weekend we would want to have prepared for America. You know, you would want the president to lead the country in a televised event, perhaps, that's mourning all of the loss that we've had. Do that throughout the weekend. Leave Monday to honor veterans. But definitely put the American people first. And what you did see instead is him putting himself and his grievances first.
And in terms of Biden coming out, I think he's handled this well. It's good for -- if he's going to emerge from his home to be going to lay a wreath as a symbolic, important first step. But I don't know that he has hurt himself by being at home, you know. He's reaching audiences he doesn't normally reach. It's much easier to go on to a zoom conference call as a voter than to show up at a rally, and I suspect that he's -- the audience that they're gathering, I know in terms of numbers, is bigger than you might have out on the campaign trail. He's just like everybody else. He needs to be careful, and he's going to model that behavior, but I don't think that has to mean a sacrifice on the campaign trail for him.
MITCHELL: No, clearly, his numbers have gone up as he's been campaigning from home, virtually, and the president, arguably, is endangering the troops, the people who have to travel with him, as well as the people that he meets along the way, and he has not been socially distancing or wearing a mask when he's around them, so, obviously time will tell.
