Personal Stakes vs. Political Plays | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

CNN’s John King revealed he is immunocompromised and has multiple sclerosis while on air Tuesday.

The anchor shared his diagnosis while discussing the Covid-19 vaccine and vaccination mandates in the workplace, saying he is grateful that his colleagues have received their shots.

“It’s a shared responsibility. If I can do something to help protect somebody else,” he said of the vaccine. “I’m going share a secret I’ve never spoken before — I’m immunocompromised. I have multiple sclerosis.”

That revelation came with thankfulness for the vaccines and for those who get vaccinated and encourage others.

“So, I’m grateful you’re all vaccinated. I’m grateful my employer says that all these amazing people who work on the floor who came in here for the last 18 months when we were doing this are vaccinated now that we have vaccines.” he continued.

The anchor went on to say that he is still nervous about bringing the virus home to his 10-year-old son as he cannot receive the vaccine yet.

Addressing the subject of mandates directly, King pointed out how the circumstances outweigh an impulse he shares with a lot of Americans.

“I don’t like the government telling me what to do,” he said. “I don’t like my boss telling me what to do,” he added. “In this case it’s important.”

King’s brave revelation comes as the political battle over vaccine mandates deepens, with Republicans largely opposing the notion of the government making vaccination mandatory for businesses or individuals, and Democrats largely in favor of mandates to include the vaccine as well as other covid measures such as masks.

Regardless of that debate, a news anchor publicly revealing something so private is a brave display of selflessness that will help others during a public health crisis.

Don Lemon ws not impressed with Will Cain yesterday. Not. At. All.

At issue? The zeal with which Cain started a “conversation” about vaccine efficacy just minutes after learning that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had died from Covid-19 despite being fully vaccinated.

While co-hosting Fox & Friends, Cain said that in addition to memorializing Powell, there should be “conversations” about his passing from covid complications after vaccination. Cain extended those remarks at length later in the day.

Powell suffered from multiple myeloma and Parkinson’s, making him more vulnerable and the vaccine less effective, something that didn’t come up in his critique until later. But he wasn’t alone at the network in pouncing on Powell’s death as a pretext for vaccine bashing, and that makes it a pattern.

Anchor John Roberts faced intense criticism for his claim that it raises “new questions” about the vaccines. And Tucker Carlson said the fact that Powell died while vaccinated “does not make his death any less sad, nor is it unusual. Many thousands of vaccinated Americans have died of Covid.”

“So, what does that tell you, exactly?” Carlson asked. “It tells you: you’ve been lied to. Vaccines may be highly useful for some people, but across a population they do not solve Covid. That’s not speculation, it is an observable fact.”

The context of Powell’s actual health complications went untouched until the very end of the show, when he conceded, “we left out that Colin Powell was suffering from a number of different health problems.”

It all started first thing with Will Cain right out of the gate.

Playing politics with the tragic loss of an American leader is always bad. But playing covid politics with it? That’s plain ugly.