Great Question, Terrible Tweet, Newsroom War | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

Bloomberg’s Jennifer Epstein asked Jen Psaki about the optics of the administration sending out covid tests made in China.

The administration took heat a few months ago when demand for tests overtook efforts to ramp up, and Psaki derided the idea of sending tests to every home in America. She later clarified that sending a test to every American could result in wasted unused tests.

In December, President Joe Biden announced a plan to distribute those free tests after all, saying he wished it had been done sooner. With that plan in place, Epstein asked Psaki about another potential pitfall in the process.

“The Chinese company Andon Health owns iHealth, which is one of the providers. They have a — they signed a $1.3 billion contract with the Pentagon last month for these tests,” she said.

“Is the administration concerned about the.. sort of, optics and messaging of sending something to Americans’ homes that says — says ‘Made in China’ on it?” Epstein asked, and referencing the “philosophy of giving federal contracts to China?”

Concerns about China are about more than mere optics, but optics are always a concern in government action, such as when then-President Donald Trump was widely criticized in the press for putting his signature on covid relief checks. It isn’t just a fair question, it’s one that regular people will wonder about.

Psaki answered that while they want to increase domestic production, they had an urgent need to fill. Her implication was that falling short on testing Americans would likewise be bad optics.

Epstein’s well-researched and provocative question is a good example of accountability inquiries that people want to see from the press corps, rather than the grandstanding or petulance that sometimes takes place.

Susan Sarandon is facing intense backlash for a recent post comparing cops gathering at the funeral of slain NYPD Detective Jason Rivera to “fascism.”

The actress shared a tweet from writer Danny Haiphong, which said, “I’m gonna tell my kids this is what fascism looks like,” over an image of officers assembling on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue last week.

“So, if all these cops weren’t needed for CRIME that day, doesn’t that mean they aren’t needed ANY day?” Sarandon added over the original tweet.

Rivera and his partner Wilbert Mora were shot last month while responding to a domestic call in Harlem, which involved a mother and her adult son, Lashawn McNeil.

Thousands of officers, as well as elected officials, friends and family, and members of the public, gathered in Manhattan to pay their respects to the officers this week, yet Sarandon viewed the congregation as a nefarious affair.

Nobody seemed to agree with Sarandon’s take, as the Thelma & Louise star was roundly blasted on Twitter for “lacking in class and decency.”

The reactions were almost uniformly negative regardless of politics.

It is not always the case that you are the media loser when provoking outrage, even outrage this widespread and total. But Sarandon’s classless tweet provoked the reaction because it was so thoughtless, crude, and harmful.

Americans care about their first responders. Wanting to reform law enforcement or combat racism in departments across the country is an important part of that respect for the job. Reacting like Sarandon did trivializes and mocks every aspect of such an important and complex issue, and worse, stomps on the graves of officers who were killed in service to their city and country.