Last month, most Americans surveyed by Gallup approved of President Trump’s Coronavirus response. Hospitals, state governments, and Federal agencies all earned positive reviews, too. The only institution that most people didn’t trust? The news media.
Many in the media got the story wrong from the start. They insisted the virus posed no real threat to Americans. They joined Democrats and the World Health Organization in attacking President Trump’s early China travel restrictions as unnecessary, even “xenophobic.” They parroted Chinese government propaganda to make their case.
Responsible journalists and politicians would own up to these failures and vow to fix them. Instead, irresponsible ones are attempting to rewrite history.
While they downplayed the virus and its risks, President Trump took action. Here’s just a sample of what his Administration has done over the past 3 months:
- On January 29, the President assembled his Coronavirus Task Force. Two days later, he declared a Public Health Emergency and restricted travel from China.
- On February 4, President Trump vowed to protect Americans in his State of the Union Address and issued Emergency Use Authorization for Medical Devices. On February 24, he requested $2.5 billion from Congress to combat the virus’ spread.
- On March 6, the President signed Coronavirus preparedness funding into law. Between March 11 and March 18, he restricted travel from Europe, declared a National Emergency, issued aggressive national Coronavirus Guidelines, and signed the Family First Response Act. By the end of March, he’d sign a historic $2.2 trillion economic relief package negotiated by the Administration into law.
- By April 9, more than 2 million Americans had been tested for Coronavirus—by far the most testing of any country on Earth. The same day, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Paycheck Protection Program had already approved more than $125 billion in forgivable loans in fewer than 5 full days of operation.
When pundits are wrong, their instinct is to divide Americans, not unite them. Real leaders, Democrat or Republican, don’t do this: They work together to get things done. This morning, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) highlighted his working relationship with President Trump, who he praised for delivering on his promise to help New York.
“If you do the right thing by New York, I’ll say it,” Gov. Cuomo said.
“He has delivered for New York.”
RealClearPolitics: The media just “can’t help themselves.”
