As the Wuhan coronavirus problem continues, the White House has been holding regular press briefings to update the public on the progress against the virus, and on the countermeasures being taken. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has viewed these press-conferences through the lens of their anti-Trump crusade.
For one, many outlets have stopped showing the press conferences after President Trump’s approval rating has risen during the crisis. This follows a weeks-long campaign by certain outlets to attempt to bash the White House by saying—with a straight face no less—that America now has a worse problem with the virus than does China. The obvious problem is that China’s reported data is no less than pro-Chinese Communist Party propaganda. There is much evidence that suggests it isn’t just wrong but is completely falsified.
The latest example of extreme media bias came with President Trump’s press conference on Monday, where the president and health officials gave the latest update on the fight against he Wuhan virus. For a brief moment, Trump also invited Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow and a Minnesota native, to give some remarks.
Lindell spoke of how his factories were being re-tooled to make masks and quickly read from something he had written. His reading talked about how families should use this time to grow closer together and to read the Bible.
Naturally, the blue checkmarks on Twitter (connected media personalities) lost it. How dare Lindell talk about God, they said. CNN even cut away from the presser once Lindell was up there talking. Even some influential Minnesota Republican Party activists (connected persons in the Minnesota Republican Party) took to social media to criticize Lindell for his brief comments.
One wrote: “Mike Lindell just hijacked a Federal press conference to deliver a religious sermon. Trump: ‘I did not know he was going to do that.’ #BadCandidateforGovernor.”
Yet many who watched the clip felt like Mr. Lindell wasn’t over the top at all. His faith-based comments only lasted about 45 seconds, for example. You can view Mr. Lindell’s comments here, at about 16:50 in. It also appears that when President Trump said, “I did not know he was going to do that,” it wasn’t out of embarrassment—instead, Trump was referring to the compliment that Mr. Lindell had given the president.
Indeed, POLITICO has recently reported that President Trump has been personally nudging Mr. Lindell to run for the office of Governor of Minnesota.
Willis Krumholz
Willis L. Krumholz is a fellow at Defense Priorities. He holds a JD and MBA degree from the University of St. Thomas, and works in the financial services industry. The views expressed are those of the author only. You can follow Willis on Twitter @WillKrumholz.
