On Wednesday's Deadline: White House, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace not only blamed President Donald Trump and Republicans for anti-Asian violence over the past year, but she even recklessly claimed that they were deliberately "attempting" to "shift blame" for the pandemic onto Asian Americans even though they were actually blaming the authoritarian government of China.
As she was joined by actress Olivia Munn to further place blame on Trump and Republicans, the importance of holding the Chinese government accountable for its role in allowing the pandemic to happen and how to stop it from happening again was not acknowledged at all.
It was also not acknowledged that, last year, President Trump condemned the targeting of Asian Americans.
At 5:23 p.m. Eastern, Wallace set up the segment by recalling fears over the recent mass murder of several Asian victims in Atlanta:
That was Vice President Kamala Harris, the nation's first Asian American Vice President addressing the tragic shootings in Atlanta that have left eight people dead including six women of Asian descent. Police say that the motive is unclear -- they have not determined if this is a hate crime. But the attacks on Asian Americans all across this country on edge and frightened. The NYPD is deploying counterterrorism officers to Asian communities throughout the city out of an abundance of caution.
She then took aim at Trump and Republicans as she added: "The attacks come amid a devastating wave of anti-Asian violence spurred by racist rhetoric from Donald Trump and the right attempting to shift blame for the pandemic onto the Asian American community in this country."
Wallace then brought aboard Munn as a guest, who further complained about those who identify the virus by the place where it originated:
We all went through the pandemic, the whole world. We all experienced the same thing. But within that, there was this other pandemic that happened against our people. We are being attacked, and it's because leaders have decided to not use the scientific name for the virus and instead call it the "kung flu" or the "China virus," and they put a target on our back.
She then hinted that President Trump was to blame for a mass murder that happened almost two months after he left office:
And it just -- it can't be open season for Asians right now. We need help -- we need so much help. And everybody saw that -- everybody heard our President targeting Asians by using that rhetoric. And we were all in a pandemic, and nobody really knew what was going to happen. When he was saying that, it was hard for me. It was hard for my family. but we had no idea that it would play out like this.
This episode of MSNBC's Deadline: White House was sponsored in part by Skechers. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC
Deadline: White House
March 17, 2021
5:23 p.m. Eastern
NICOLLE WALLACE: That was Vice President Kamala Harris, the nation's first Asian American Vice President addressing the tragic shootings in Atlanta that have left eight people dead including six women of Asian decent. Police say that the motive is unclear -- they have not determined if this is a hate crime. But the attacks have Asian Americans all across this country on edge and frightened. The NYPD is deploying counterterrorism officers to Asian communities throughout the city out of an abundance of caution.
The attacks come amid a devastating wave of anti-Asian violence spurred by racist rhetoric from Donald Trump and the right attempting to shift blame for the pandemic onto the Asian American community in this country.
(...)
OLIVIA MUNN: We all went through the pandemic, the whole world. We all experienced the same thing. But within that, there was this other pandemic that happened against our people. We are being attacked, and it's because leaders have decided to not use the scientific name for the virus and instead call it the "kung flu" or the "China virus," and they put a target on our back.
And it just -- it can't be open season for Asians right now. We need help -- we need so much help. And everybody saw that -- everybody heard our President targeting Asians by using that rhetoric. And we were all in a pandemic, and nobody really knew what was going to happen. When he was saying that, it was hard for me. It was hard for my family. but we had no idea that it would play out like this.
And also when you think about how hard the pandemic has been for people, there's a lot of frustration. And what we know with human nature is that you've got people who are looking or someone or something to blame, and this is just a very easy scapegoat for a lot of people's frustration that has happened over the last year.
WALLACE: Well, Olivia, I think you put all the pieces together. From the beginning, the former President called it the "kung flu"and the "China virus" up till last night. On Fox News, he did it again, so that hasn't stopped.
