Yesterday, CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang promised that she had “a lot of questions” to ask Donald Trump at today’s COVID19 press briefing:
JUST IN: The President will hold a formal press briefing tomorrow for the first time since April 27th.
The topic is “testing”, which great because I have a lot of questions. pic.twitter.com/22aoqT3EjR
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) May 11, 2020
Here’s what she apparently had in mind:
Reporter: Why is this a global competition [on testing] to you if every day Americans are still losing their lives…
Trump: That’s a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me…
R: Sir, why are you saying that to me specifically?
T: I’m not saying it specifically to anybody pic.twitter.com/yL0KHxdoeL
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 11, 2020
How dare he?!
Once again, @weijia pushes back on @realDonaldTrump’s bullshit + racism.
Weijia, you are on the best reporters in the business. We salute you!
Watch Donald’s meltdown at the #TrumpPressConference. pic.twitter.com/fT158pYoEJ
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) May 11, 2020
Why is he saying it to her specifically? Because she, specifically, asked him the question.
Because she’s the one who asked the question ?
— Willie Stroker (@topsportsexpert) May 11, 2020
She asked.
He answered.— Gib (@Gibstra) May 11, 2020
Such a gotcha garbage question. “Are you saying that to me?” How about YES! Why? Because you asked. What a ridiculous exchange.
— NYRickGrimes (@grimes_ny) May 11, 2020
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Clearly the fact that Donald Trump is annoyed with Weijia Jiang has everything to do with the fact that she’s Chinese-American and nothing to do with her attempt to pull a Jim Acosta.
Did she try to turn this into a race thing? https://t.co/u9Ke0ijOOx
— Rob Schmitt (@SchmittNYC) May 11, 2020
That reporter should have her press pass yanked.
She’s the one who lied about someone calling it the Kung Flu to her. https://t.co/N900lXgrRg
— RBe (@RBPundit) May 11, 2020
To be fair, we don’t have conclusive proof that she lied about the now-infamous alleged “Kung Flu” incident … but almost two months after it supposedly happened, she has yet to reveal which “White House official” racially wounded her.
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Update:
Unsurprisingly, Weijia Jiang’s effort appears to have worked. At least on lots of media firefighters.
Trump telling @Weijia to "ask China" fits into a pattern. At the first news conference of his presidency, when @AprilRyan asked him about the Congressional Black Caucus, he said "Do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours?" pic.twitter.com/eMPp61zSbY
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 11, 2020
You cling to that narrative, Brian Stelter et al. Bitterly.
Trump also answered in a similar way a question regarding China from a reporter not of Asian-American descent. President has been critical of China in every press briefing regardless of who asks the question. But when reflexively pushing a narrative, context becomes inconvenient. https://t.co/oL1oHrHPIw
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) May 11, 2020
Earlier in the presser, Steve Holland asked abt Chinese hackers stealing vaccine research, @realDonaldTrump: "What else is new with China? What else is new? Tell me."
President Trump’s opponents are inventing something out of nothing.
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 11, 2020
At the risk of sounding like broken records, we’ll say it again: Donald Trump offers up plenty of reasons for legit criticism; the media’s constant attempts to manufacture outrage are wholly unnecessary, but they literally can’t seem to help themselves.
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Related:
Weijia ‘Kung Flu’ Jiang upset that President Trump called Asian American community ‘they’