CNN’s Brian Stelter went after President Donald Trump and the right-wing media for their “obsession” with political scandals while the coronavirus’ body count continues to go up.
In his Reliable Sources Sunday monologue, Stelter stressed that people need to focus on the “big picture” of the health crisis now that Covid-19 has claimed almost 80,000 American lives. Stelter made his point by comparing the economic impact to the Great Depression, and also by comparing the pandemic to mass casualty events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.
Stelter used the Katrina metaphor quite a bit, for as he compared the hurricane’s 1,800 deaths on the Gulf Coast to last week’s daily average of 1,900 coronavirus-related deaths, he said it was “basically one Hurricane Katrina every day” in terms of fatality. After decrying Trump for his “lack of leadership,” Stelter warned that the coronavirus death toll must not be downplayed, nor should the government’s response be accepted as normal.
“The death toll is not something that just is downplayed, it’s not something we can hide from, even if it’s gut-wrenching to hear about everyday. It’s like New Orleans floods every day. It’s like the planes go into the towers every day. And to look away or act like it’s now normal or acceptable is a disgrace to
the victims.”
After that, Stelter blasted Trump for using his interview with Fox & Friends last week to storm at his political foes instead of maintaining focus on the pandemic.
“It’s so disappointing to look at what we’re seeing from right-wing media these days,” said Stelter. “There’s such an obsession with the ‘deep state’ and these revelations about the Russia probe and the decision about Michael Flynn. They’re treating the Michael Flynn story like it’s a bigger deal than the deaths of 2,000 Americans a day…In what right mind is any scandal, any political scandal, any Department of Justice story more important to ask the president about than the pandemic that’s raging?”
Stelter concluded by suggesting that Trump would be responding to the coronavirus death toll differently if it happened because of terror attacks.
Watch above, via CNN.