Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by chrisco255 1949 days ago
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/covid-19-pandemic-us-preside...

No, this was the "racist" incident when Weijia Jiang asked Trump why he was insisting on bringing up the fact that the U.S. was doing better than (several European countries, including UK, Italy, Spain, and France at the time) other countries.

And he said, "They're losing their lives everywhere in the world. And maybe that's a question you should ask China. Don't ask me, ask China that question, OK?" because at the time, China was claiming they had basically solved Covid-19 with lockdowns and that the virus was no longer spreading in their country. And she said, "Sir, why are you saying that to me specifically?" implying it was due to her race (she being of Chinese heritage). And Trump, in standard form, said "I'm saying it to anybody who would ask a nasty question like that."

Every time Trump would be his ordinary self, you know, he always punches back at underhanded questions. The questions are a set up in the first place, to create a negative connotation. The coronavirus was a situation where nobody won, by the way, but the press certainly was going to do everything to make as much if it be Trump's fault as possible.

Weirdly, some, who feared Trump being a true Hitler-like fascist 2-3 years ago, were upset that Trump wasn't being fascist enough and shutting the whole country down and overruling state governors on local policies.

None of it was productive. None of it was healthy: on either side. None of it enlightened the population. None of it did any favors for democracy. It just inflamed already tense relations between conservatives and liberals. And note, there's no way in hell the media will ever be as hard on a democrat in office. They are 95% democrats themselves, and they have a bias. They soft balled Biden as it is, when he wasn't hiding in his basement.

2 comments

I suppose the guy calling Covid-19 "Kung Flu" was in no way trying to deflect blame to China?

Was his treatment of that reporter in particular bad? No, not really. I don't believe he brought up China because she was Chinese.

But I don't think "he always throws temper tantrums" or "he always finds a scapegoat" or "he's always badmouthing China even when he knows there's been a spike in hate crimes against Chinese people" are terribly good excuses. Premeditation and a pattern of behavior make his actions worse, not better.

> because at the time, China was claiming they had basically solved Covid-19 with lockdowns and that the virus was no longer spreading in their country.

You are putting words in his mouth. We don't know what he meant because he refused to answer the question. Immediately after that exchange, he cut the briefing short and left the room.

She said: "Why does that matter? Why is this a global competition when, every day, Americans are still losing their lives?"

Did he answer the question? Or did he look at an Asian woman and immediately start attacking China?

And this is just ridiculous:

"Weirdly, some, who feared Trump being a true Hitler-like fascist 2-3 years ago, were upset that Trump wasn't being fascist enough and shutting the whole country down and overruling state governors on local policies."

There's nothing fascist about instituting a national healthcare policy during a national healthcare crisis. That's not what the word means. Fascism is far-right authoritarianism.

Marshalling private militias to attack people is fascism, however, and it's a practice Trump shares with both Hitler and Mussolini.

>Or did he look at an Asian woman and immediately start attacking China?

I don't think that's entirely fair. I suspect his answer would be pretty much the same no matter who asked it. He was pre

>Marshalling private militias to attack people is fascism, however, and it's a practice Trump shares with both Hitler and Mussolini.

"LIBERATE MICHIGAN", anyone?

Though, in fairness, the plot to kidnap Michigan's governor didn't start until two whole two months after he sent that Tweet. The Blackshirts carrying rifles through the capitol building were largely peaceful.