National Harbor, MD - We have enough to worry about with the coronavirus without the media politicizing everything President Trump has to say about it. Yet that's exactly what CNN did this weekend following Trump's emergency press conference at the White House. Instead of simply reporting what the president plans to do with his coronavirus task force, CNN ran chyrons such as, "Trump downplays coronavirus threat," and, my personal favorite, "Trump is shocked to find out how many people die from the flu each year."
I asked RNC spokeswoman Liz Harrington to react to those headlines during our chat at CPAC this weekend.
"It's really unfortunate because they won't let themselves cover anything objectively anymore," Harrington said. "It's always, how can we weaponize this against the president."
"This is a time when we look to elected officials to calm the fears, not stoke them," she added.
"To see Democrats...an issue like this. A virus. It doesn't have a political party. They politicized it from the outset. And I think the American people are tired of it."
What those chyrons won't tell you, Harrington explained, is that Trump made the "bold" decision to stop travel to try and contain the virus. He put a coronavirus task force together and appointed Vice President Mike Pence to lead it. He answered the media's question for 30 minutes. Still, outlets like the New York Times decided it would be cute to coin the phrase, "TrumpVirus" and blame him for the chaos.
"They hit a new low every day, unfortunately," Harrington sighed.
She wasn't entirely surprised, because it follows the trend of Democrats manufacturing ways to destroy Trump's presidency. They tried, but failed, to impeach President Trump. He was acquitted of both impeachment charges - abuse of power was defeated 48 to 52, and obstruction of Congress was defeated 47 to 53 - last month in the U.S. Senate. The only Republican defection was Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who voted "yes" on abuse of power.
Harrington said that the release of the transcript of Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky may just be the moment that sealed his acquittal.
"The Democrats overplayed their hand," she reflected. "This was a manufactured game, just like the Russian collusion hoax."
"They'll never stop," she said. "Maybe they'll find something...impeach him over the coronavirus, right?"
Click on our conversation above to hear more of Harrington's take on the impeachment trial, as well as the 2020 Democratic primary.
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