A White House correspondent for CBS News claimed on Monday that his job was more dangerous than when he previously reported from North Korea.
Ben Tracy, who reports from the White House for CBS Evening News and CBS This Morning among other programs, said in a tweet that he "felt safer reporting in North Korea than I currently do reporting at The White House," adding, "This is just crazy."
I felt safer reporting in North Korea than I currently do reporting at The White House. This is just crazy.
— Ben Tracy (@benstracy) October 5, 2020
Tracy's comment was made a short time after White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced that she had tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus after days of taking tests that returned a negative result. She said in a statement on Monday that she was not experiencing symptoms but would immediately begin the quarantine process.
Although it is not known when or how McEnany acquired COVID-19, the media jumped into full speculation mode on Monday tying the press secretary's diagnosis to that of President Trump and painting a portrait of a White House staff riddled with the infection that disregards all safety measures.
McEnany last addressed the White House press pool on Sunday, during brief outdoor remarks in which she was distanced by much greater than six feet from any reporter. She was still berated for daring to speak without wearing a mask.
Despite precautions taken by the White House throughout the pandemic, however, the pervasive and novel virus proved that it, like all viruses, cannot be contained forever, infecting the president, the First Lady, several members of Congress, and now the press secretary. They have joined nearly 8 million other Americans in the battle against the Chinese virus, many of whom have essential responsibilities just like they do.
But instead of wishing McEnany well and reporting the facts of the story during an unprecedented point in American history, Tracy chose to compare the White House, the physical seat of the freest nation on earth, to the murderous dictatorship of North Korea.
Yes the White House is just like North Korea, other than the beatings, starvation, lack of electricity, organ harvesting, punishment of your parents, your children, your extended family on the basis of your network's reporting. You are a clown. https://t.co/qzKphhPYeU
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) October 5, 2020
Tracy's stunning remark was made just one day after White House Correspondents Association president Zeke Miller excoriated President Trump for leaving Walter Reed Medical Center without informing the "protective" press pool.
"It is outrageous for the president to have left the hospital — even briefly — amid a health crisis without a protective pool present to ensure that the American people know where their president is and how he is doing," Miller said in a statement. "Now more than ever, the American public deserves independent coverage of the president so they can be reliably informed about his health."
You probably have a greater chance of surviving coronavirus than surviving reporting something critical of Kim Jong-Un in North Korea https://t.co/9jnCRir6YB
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 5, 2020