Some media pundits and politicians appeared to celebrate the U.S. reaching the most novel coronavirus cases in the world in an attempt to dunk on President Donald Trump.
Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tried to call the media out for its “glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more CoronaVirus cases than China” on Sunday morning. Many members of the press attacked him for the allegation, despite some of their own co-workers being involved in celebrating the news as a way to attack Trump.
“Marco isn’t allowed to criticize the president so he’s decided to criticize the media,” replied Molly Jong-Fast, editor-at-large of The Daily Beast.
“Who in the media?” Vox blogger Matthew Yglesias wondered. (RELATED: Media Outlets Are Revisiting And Revising Their Old Reporting On The Coronavirus)
“This tweet is grotesque. Delete it,” GQ political columnist Laura Bassett responded.
“No one feels glee or delight. Some of us feel white hot rage,” New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg hit back.
Some in our media can’t contain their glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more #CoronaVirus cases than #China
Beyond being grotesque,its bad journalism
We have NO IDEA how many cases China really has but without any doubt its significantly more than why they admit to
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 29, 2020
Rubio’s tweet came after it was determined that America is leading the world in coronavirus cases as of Thursday, according to a report from the NYT. Immediately after this news, some began to sarcastically invoke Trump’s “America First” slogan as they appeared to mock the number of cases in the country to stick it to the president.
“He did promise ‘America First,'” former First Lady Hillary Clinton tweeted March 27. Similarly, MSNBC commentator Richard Wolffe published an op-ed in The Guardian headlined “Trump’s America first is working: the US now leads the world in coronavirus cases.”
“And so it came to pass that America is indeed winning like never before,” according to Wolffe, who then added that this should not bring people pleasure. “First among nations, to be sure. With all the new vision that an ostrich has while examining the sand from below.”
Daily Beast columnist Dean Obeidallah also tried to take a dig at the president at the expense of those suffering from the novel coronavirus.
“Trump wanted to make America First-well he did it,” Obeidallah tweeted March 27.
Trump wanted to make America First-well he did it. Of the 175 countries that have the coronavirus, the US is #1 in terms of cases thanks to Trump’s FAILED leadership. This is all Trump! pic.twitter.com/iByXBeHmK1
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) March 27, 2020
Julia Loffe, a correspondent at GQ Magazine, asked “Who’s the shithole country now?” in a tweet March 26. (RELATED: Media Rated Worst At Handling Coronavirus Response In Gallup Poll)
Meanwhile, Bill Bramhall, an editorial cartoonist at New York Daily News, tweeted a cartoon of the president riding to the top of a graph showing the number of novel coronavirus cases in America compared to other countries.
Cartoon pic.twitter.com/7TA94R4nK5
— Bill Bramhall (@BillBramhall) March 27, 2020
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich referred to Trump as a “liar-in-chief” as he used the novel coronavirus pandemic to go after the president.
“Is this what Trump meant by ‘AMERICA FIRST?'” Reich tweeted.
Is this what Trump meant by “AMERICA FIRST”?
Meanwhile, our liar-in-chief is already talking about sending Americans back to work, against the advice of public health officials.
If he continues down this path, I fear the U.S. will soon lead the world in coronavirus deaths, too. https://t.co/cv9KAxeGZz
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) March 27, 2020
“We’re number 1! We’re number 1! We’re number 1!” editor-in-chief of Law Fare Blog and NBC/MSNBC News analyst Benjamin Wittes mocked.
At least 135,738 people across the country, including the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as of Sunday, according to the NYT. At least 2,391 patients in the country are dead after contracting the virus.
