On her Saturday program, Fox News Channel’s Jeanine Pirro used her “Opening Statement” segment to argue the manner in which the media are handling coronavirus was proof of bias and the coverage was meant to damage President Donald Trump.
Transcript as follows:
PIRRO: If you’ve ever had a question whether the mainstream media distorts, whips up, throws things out of focus or has an agenda, especially when it comes to the Trump administration, look no further than coronavirus.
If you listen to the mainstream media, it’s time to buy the family burial plot, visit the cemetery where the dirt is definitely cleaner than your kitchen counter or your bathroom handles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: The coronavirus outbreak has the potential to become a global pandemic.
JOY BEHAR, ABC HOST: Don’t listen to Trump. Don’t listen to him. Let’s face it, the President is a reality —
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: The response to the coronavirus in the United States is being led by the most incompetent and ignorant President in history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: So what’s the downside of their Doomsday reporting? The downside is predictable. When people are scared, when people think it’s just a question of time before they start dropping like flies, they go into survival mode.
They don’t spend money. The economy suffers. They don’t invest. The market suffers.
They talk about taking their children out of school, education suffers. They talk about canceling March Madness, Coachella, and local businesses suffer.
And canceling airlines and cruise ship reservations, the economy suffers.
They go into depression mode because their quality of life is over.
And who better to trumpet a slowing economy than CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Wall Street is rattled by the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus. The Dow closing down more than 350 points today for a total loss of more than 3,000 points over the past week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: My, my. You want to focus on the Dow now? Where were you when the Dow, the S&P 500, and NASDAQ all repeatedly reached record highs under President Trump? You weren’t interested then, were you?
Where were you when the Dow closed at a record high more than 100 times since Donald Trump’s election? Where were you when animal spirits were driving this country to new economic heights?
And for your information, our economy can sustain a 3,000-point drop because we are at record highs. Job numbers just came out, and they’re up beyond expectations.
The stock market is up for the week. Long-term interest rates are plunging, so people can refinance, and those who need subsidies are going to get them.
And the media complains that there was a lackluster initial response by the Trump administration. Say what?
Let’s start with the fact that the U.S. has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. And on January 31st, the Trump administration restricted entry into this country from China in an effort to counter the spreading coronavirus outbreak.
Even The New York Times noted the administration barred entry by most foreign nationals who had recently visited China. American travelers were under quarantine, as the administration declared a rare public health emergency.
The President did this knowing that it would send shocks through the stock market, that it would rattle industry between the world’s two largest economies.
He immediately put together the smartest, most sophisticated team of doctors, scientists, and healthcare professionals to deal with his declared coronavirus health emergency.
And most important, he assigned to Vice President Mike Pence the job of organizing, monitoring a team to contain, mitigate and treat the problem working with states and local governments.
His efforts have been non-stop, keenly focused, and heralded the political criticisms by the left like Governor Inslee of Washington State and Governor Cuomo of New York State are nothing more than political gamesmanship that have no place in this effort. The effort to develop a vaccine making testing kits available to every state lab and available to every doctor in this country with a minimum of $4 million going to each of the 50 states is underway.
So, what to do? It’s a virus, like the flu. It actually can be mistaken for the flu, a sore throat, a cough, a fever. And by the way, it is flu season.
You say, but people are dying. Sadly, that’s true. And not only are condolences in order, but we owe it to their families and all Americans to come up with a vaccine.
Like the flu, tests for coronavirus are now being made available to every state lab. Clinical trials will begin within five weeks for the vaccine.
The Federal government is working continuous, vigorously and forcefully to cut the bureaucratic red tape that often slows down vaccine approval.
And rest assured the best, the brightest, and the resolute are working non-stop to create this vaccine.
Now, they say the mortality rate for coronavirus is higher than a flu. But consider though that we have a flu vaccine, and yet in 2019, sixteen thousand Americans died from the flu. Imagine if we did not have the flu vaccine, the flu would be a pandemic.
So all the talk about coronavirus being so much more deadly doesn’t reflect reality. Without a vaccine, the flu would be far more deadly.
Now, what we do know is the mortality rate is much higher among elderly adults. According to reports, the risk of dying if infected with the coronavirus is higher the older you are, which might explain why they say children are not really affected by the virus.
But in addition to age, as Dr. Anthony Fauci has said, the risk is greater if you, as an elderly person, have an underlying medical condition like diabetes, heart disease, asthma, it is certainly higher if you’re a smoker, which might explain why China has such a high mortality rate.
Some studies have estimated that as many as 50 percent of Chinese men are smokers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MAHER, HBO TALK SHOW HOST: I’m sick of the virus, but not from the virus. People die. That’s what happens in life. The BP oil spill was going to end the world and every other [bleep] we’ve ever had.
And it didn’t.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: So, what to do? Wash your hands. I know everyone thinks there’s got to be more to this. The reason you wash your hands is to get the germs off. The reason why you need to get the germs off is because you can then transfer them to your eyes, your nose, your mouth, risking infection to your respiratory system.
You’re looking now at a California genius, a medical doctor from their state health department, lecturing how not to touch your face as the woman repeatedly touches the surface then her face and literally puts her fingers in her mouth.
Whatever you have to do, don’t touch your face. And gloves won’t matter because the virus can last for hours on them and surfaces.
So whether you need to borrow your dog’s shock collar or go out and buy a straightjacket, don’t touch your face.
Don’t share drinking glasses, eating utensils, clean all high touch surfaces every day like counters and tabletops and doorknobs and stay at home if you feel sick.
And as the Surgeon General said on JUSTICE last week, you don’t need a mask unless you’re sick and there’s no need to go out and clean out the store shelves.
As the weather warms, fewer and fewer people will get sick with the virus. Some of the meds need to be left for people who may need them.
And if you want to complain about something, complain about the fact that we rely on China and even India for ingredients for some of our medication, even the meds themselves.
Like Nuclear Medicine and Moly 99, it is time to have a supply chain for our medicine in the United States. Time to make America first there.
So maybe Bill Maher has the right attitude. Stop panicking, fear-mongering, hiding under your bed, and freaking out. In fact —
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP OF MOVIE “MOONSTRUCK”)
CHER, PLAYING LORETTA CASTORINI IN MOVIE “MOONSTRUCK”: Snap out of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: And wash your damn hands, wash them and then wash them again.
Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeff_poor
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