Anybody that has been in politics long enough knows you have to walk and chew gum at the same time. There are numerous policy decisions that have to be navigated on a daily basis, so you have to learn to deal with one crisis while handling another one simultaneously. But apparently the Democratic operatives at MSNBC have not learned that lesson yet, or at least not when it comes to Republicans.
During a Friday afternoon segment, anchors Katy Tur and Chuck Todd questioned why President Trump would be doing other things besides handling the coronavirus crisis. Todd started the segment off with an odd analogy:
Katy, I head scratch about Florida. Not that he's there at this point, he travels. But that it's like, you're showing up at somebody -- at a wedding and you decide you only want to talk about some sort of job event. It's just sort of weird, the county is in a crisis right now with this virus. But let's talk about Venezuelan politics.
Weird analogy aside, the President has more priorities than just the coronavirus pandemic. Like any incumbent president, he is concerned about getting reelected, and he also has foreign and domestic policy goals that he is seeking to accomplish. Pretending that presidents since the beginning of government haven't juggled priorities while in office is intellectually dishonest and nothing more than a partisan attempt to help the Biden campaign by trashing Trump, but that did not stop Tur from doubling down on it:
Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense. It's part of the strategy right now that you're seeing out of the White House and the campaign, which is to keep the president away from the coronavirus as much as possible. That's why you're not seeing him attend the coronavirus briefings any longer and to focus on the economy and to focus on what he can campaign on. So while it is weird and uncomfortable because that is the issue that is consuming all of us, it is what they want to do. Earlier, he met with leaders of the U.S. military's southern command in Miami. He was briefed on the administration's counternarcotics operations, and before returning to Washington tonight, the President will attend a fund-raiser in Hillsborough Beach for his 2020 campaign. The common thread, as we keep saying, is none of these events are related to the virus, or the spike Chuck, that is currently being experienced in Florida.
Just listening to MSNBC, you would never expect that Vice President Pence is leading coronavirus efforts, that there are teams of medical and economic experts controlling policy decision-making, or that Trump led the way through the toughest months of the pandemic in March, April, and May. It would be “bizarre” if Trump had not done all of those things and was ignoring the pandemic, but he is not. The media also did not say it was bizarre for left-wing mayors like New York's Bill de Blasio or D.C.'s Muriel Bowser to paint "black lives matter" on streets or for possible Democratic vice presidential pick, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, to focus on police reform in Atlanta. Nor did they call it bizarre when Biden was discussing buying American goods during a Pennsylvania campaign stop on Thursday.
It is only wrong and off-topic when Trump tackles other priorities during the pandemic, once again displaying the selective outrage the media have always had when it comes to Republicans. MSNBC is so deep in the tank for Democrats, they can never climb out.
Aleve sponsored this one sided hypocrisy on behalf of Democrats.
Read the full transcript below to learn more.
MSNBC’s Live
7-10-20
CHUCK TODD: Katy, I head scratch about Florida. Not that he's there at this point, he travels. But that it's like, you're showing up at somebody -- at a wedding and you decide you only want to talk about some sort of job event. It's just sort of weird, the county is in a crisis right now with this virus. But let's talk about Venezuelan politics.
KATY TUR: Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense. It's part of the strategy right now that you're seeing out of the White House and the campaign, which is to keep the president away from the coronavirus as much as possible. That's why you're not seeing him attend the coronavirus briefings any longer and to focus on the economy and to focus on what he can campaign on. So while it is weird and uncomfortable because that is the issue that is consuming all of us, it is what they want to do. They want to keep him off that message and on to the one they believe works for them, so again, the president is in Florida today despite, as Chuck was saying, that new record in hospitalizations. And at this hour, he's participating, as Chuck was saying, in a roundtable discussion with Venezuelan migrants and residents in Doral. Florida is home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States. Earlier, he met with leaders of the U.S. Military's southern command in Miami. He was briefed on the administration's counternarcotics operations, and before returning to Washington tonight, the president will attend a fund-raiser in Hillsborough Beach for his 2020 campaign. The common thread, as we keep saying, is none of these events are related to the virus, or the spike Chuck, that is currently being experienced in Florida.
TODD: And to even more bizarre, he's doing a fund-raiser at a time when Republicans in Florida are fighting over raising money for a convention he's thrust onto Jacksonville and taken away resources from that. This whole trip is bizarre on so many levels.
