The Daily Show with Trevor Noah presented a salute to what they called the Salute to the Heroes of the Pandumic. They included clips from various right-wing media pundits, starting with Sean Hannity in which he bombastically delivered a mocking and sarcastic comment, alluding particularly to the suggestion that anyone who takes the coronavirus seriously is a wimp:
“Tonight I am here to report, the sky is absolutely falling, we are all doomed, the end is near, the apocalypse is imminent and you’re all going to die. Or, at least that is what the media mob would like you to think.”
Next up was Rush Limbaugh, who said on February 24, 2020:
“I’m dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold! The hype of this thing as a pandemic, as the Andromeda strain, as the ‘Oh my God if you get it you’re dead.’”
Maybe he will be dead right on this.
The came Pete Hegseth a Fox commentator who said on March 8, 2020:
“This is one of those cases where the more I learn about coronavirus the less concerned I am. It’s a lot of hyperbole.”
Then we heard Lou Dobbs, also from Fox on March 9, 2020:
“The national left wing media playing up fears of the coronavirus”
That was followed by Fox’s Tomi Lahren on March 10, 2020:
“The sky is falling because we have a few dozen cases of Coronavirus on cruise ship. I am far more concerned about stepping on a used heroin needle than I am about getting the coronavirus but maybe that’s just me.”
Of course they had to include Judge Judy (Jeanine Pirro) with her comments on March 7, 2020:
“It’s a virus like the flu. All the talk about coronavirus being more deadly doesn’t reflect reality.’
They also showed Dr. Marc Siegel commenting on Fox News on March 6, 2020 as follows:
“This virus should be compared to the flu because at worst, at worst, the worst case scenario it could be the flu.”
Next came former lawyer turned television pundit, Geraldo Rivera on February 28, 2020:
“The far more deadly, the far more lethal threat right now is not the coronavirus, is the common old flu. Nobody has died yet in the United States as far as we know from this disease.’
Then there was Laura Ingraham also on March 9, 2020,
“The facts are actually pretty reassuring, but you would never know it watching all this stuff. ”
We were also blessed with commentator Jesse Waters on March 3, 2020,
“You know how I really feel about the coronavirus? If I get it I’ll beat it. I’m not afraid of the coronavirus, and no one else should be that afraid either.”
Of course we had to have Matt Schlapp on March 11, 2020:
“It is very, very difficult to contract this virus’.
On March 2, 2020 there was a reassuring comment from another physician, Dr. Drew Pinksy:
“The fatality rate is gonna drop.’
He was followed by Ed Henry on March 10, 2020,
“In it context it is not quite as scary.’
And of course the inimitable Fox commentator, no famous for intelligence, Ainsley Earnhardt on March 13, 2020, who opined as follows:
“It’s the safest time to fly. Everyone I know is flying right now. The terminals are pretty much dead, and then the planes, remember back in the day when you had a seat next to you possibly empty, you could stretch out a little more, its like that on every flight now.”
We also had the benefit of advice from Republican Congressman Devin Nunes on March 15,
“If you’re healthy for you and your family it’s a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant. Likely you can get in easily.”
Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz on March 4, 2020 added a colourful prop for his statement by wearing a gas mask when he mocked concerns about the spread of the virus.
On March 11, 2020, a reporter in the Capital asked Senator James Inhofe who famously called climate change science a hoax and brought unseasonable snow into the Senate to “prove” his point, what precautions he was taking related to Coronavirus he confidently extended his arm and asked the reporter, ‘Wanna shake hands?”
Of course there is the razor sharp mind of the leader of the President’s task force on the coronavirus, Mike Pence, who said on March 10, 2020, saying,
“In our line of work you shake hands. I expect the President to continue to do that and I’ll continue to do it.’
Of course, Pence, unlike some of us, can no doubt rely on divine intervention to protect him. A fine example for us indeed.
Then there was the President’s man Larry Kudlow on February 25, 2020 who said,
“We have contained this. We have contained this. I won’t say airtight, but pretty close to airtight.”
Of course no such salute would be complete without a word from Kelly-Anne “Alternative Facts” Conway who said on March 6, 2020,
“This is being contained. And do you not think it is being contained?’
Then were shown more of Sean Hannity, saying on February 27, 2020,
“Zero people have died in America form the coronavirus. Zero!’
Finally, we were given the benefit of Donald Trump’s words, on February 26, 2020,
“This is a flu. This is like a flu. Its’ going to disappear. It’s like a miracle, one day it’s going to disappear.’
Of course after downplaying it for weeks, and calling the reporting of the virus or the virus itself, a “hoax,” on March 17, 2020 Trump changed his tune,
“I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. I took it very seriously.’
Even Sean Hannity on March 18, 2020, following Trump one day later said,
“This program has always taken the coronavirus very seriously.’
It takes real chutzpah to lie so brazenly. Both Trump and Hannity have that in abundance.
Are none of them feeling at all guilty or at least embarrassed about having misled the public into minimizing the importance of this pandemic?