You’re probably as sick as we are of posts about the media, who all used the term “Wuhan virus” just a couple of weeks ago, turning all of their attention to President Trump’s decision to start calling the coronavirus the Chinese virus.
As Twitchy reported, a lot of people schooled CNN’s Nathan McDermott, who seemed to have missed the fact that Trump started calling it the Chinese virus right after officials from the Chinese government began making claims that the virus started in the U.S. and was spread to Wuhan by the U.S. Army.
Here’s a good explainer from Bryan Dean Wright from a couple of days ago:
Trump called it the “Chinese Virus.”
This was not a slip.
His intel staff has made clear that China is spreading propaganda that the US is to blame.
Trump just dropped the hammer that we will not sit back & let the lies go unanswered.
There is only one culprit here:
China. https://t.co/TXkDV3rTTg
— Bryan Dean Wright (@BryanDeanWright) March 17, 2020
He’s right; it’s not a slip and he is doing it on purpose. AP White House reporter Jonathan Lemire noted it too, saying that Trump is using “nativist, us-vs-them rhetoric.” It’s more like us versus the Chinese coronavirus, but whatever.
The president also employed more nativist, us-vs-them rhetoric at the briefing, continuing his recent habit of referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus" https://t.co/UdvqEBt1We
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) March 18, 2020
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That’s his pull quote from the story on the briefing? Oh, he’s also a political analyst for MSNBC … shocker. He writes:
No longer able to run for reelection on a healthy economy, [Trump] was taking on the mantle of a wartime leader after [he] played down the severity of the crisis for weeks.
The president also employed more nativist, us-vs-them rhetoric at the briefing, continuing his recent habit of referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus,” which has been sharply criticized as racist. “It’s not racist at all,” Trump said. “It comes from China, that’s all.”
He was asked about a report that a White House aide had referred to the virus as the “Kung flu” when talking to an Asian-American reporter and Trump did not signal disapproval of the offensive term.
I'm so sorry this is happening to you, Jon.
— Crapplefratz – Will Tweet For Food (@Crapplefratz) March 18, 2020
Are you ok John?
I’m so sorry this is happening to you.
— FilmScoreLove (@ScoreAndOST) March 18, 2020
— select o speed (@selectospeed) March 18, 2020
It amazes me how many of you are aiding China in this propaganda effort.
— David (@DSmykal) March 18, 2020
Was it better or worse than NBC running PRC propaganda this past weekend? https://t.co/RIZSVGLbaB
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) March 18, 2020
that's how everyone referred to it until CCP propaganda started
— George Smith (@P1B_WMichigan) March 18, 2020
Everyone in the media referred to it like this right up until you all decided as a block that it was definitely racist.
Like, legitimately, wtf are you people doing?
— CORDENTHUSIAST (@cordenthusiast) March 18, 2020
Is @AP nativist? It appears Jonathan Lemire thinks so!https://t.co/jhfkrhLPMM pic.twitter.com/PSA3j79wBl
— S.E. Johnny ? (@Johnny5024) March 18, 2020
Pretty nativist if you ask us:
United Arab Emirates announces the first confirmed case of the new Chinese virus in the Middle East. https://t.co/fab4KilCHc
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 29, 2020
How much is the Chinese Communist Party paying you to spread their propaganda? Hope it was worth it to trade your credibility in exchange for being a paid shill for the CCP.
— Sistro Mondain (@SistroMondain) March 18, 2020
But that's where it came from
— John Blackout (@ReigningBrain) March 18, 2020
the more you idiots complain about the word "Chinese Virus" the more you people look like total idiots….
— U Wish I Was Deplorable (@glassjoe_77) March 18, 2020
— Dan Stringer, “Underground” Factory Developer (@Danstringer74) March 18, 2020
Narrator: it IS us vs. them
— DaveD (@DavidDankelman) March 18, 2020
And yet you give me no useable information and he does. You are a waste
— Sisyphus (@PoliSisyphus) March 18, 2020
"Journalist"
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) March 18, 2020
Related:
Will Vox put themselves in time-out after declaring that Donald Trump 'using a racist name for the coronavirus is dangerous'? (They should.) https://t.co/93PP2Ob44m
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 18, 2020
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