Following the remarkably robust and surprising jobs report released last Friday, President Trump’s reelection campaign manager Brad Parscale announced that his political rallies would resume:
Americans are ready to get back to action, and so is President Trump. The great American comeback is real and the rallies will be tremendous.
You’ll again see the kind of crowds and enthusiasm that sleepy Joe Biden can only dream of.
The media immediately pivoted away from covering the George Floyd protests and riots without a murmur of concern about the lack of “social distancing,” and are now criticizing the president’s decision to resume his rallies.
Politico’s headline perfectly illustrated the pivot: “Trump to Restart MAGA Rallies this Month Despite Coronavirus.” NPR joined in, tweeting, “President Trump will hit the campaign trail this month — despite the deadly coronavirus pandemic, which continues to impact the lives and livelihoods of households across the country.”
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the floor of the Senate on Tuesday to call out the hypocrisy:
Many Americans feel they’ve just seen those fastidious regulations and that puritanical zeal disappear in an instant because a new cause has emerged that powerful people agree with.
A month ago, small protest demonstrators were widely condemned as reckless and selfish. Now, massive rallies that fill entire cities are not just praised but in fact are called especially brave because of the exact same health risks that brought condemnation when the cause was different.
Conservative columnist and commentator Jonah Goldberg nailed the perfidy and the pivot:
We spent the last couple of months being hectored by public health experts and earnestly righteous media personalities who insisted that easing lockdown policies was immoral, that refusing to social distance or wear masks was nigh upon murderous. They even suggested that protests were somehow profane.
But now that the George Floyd protests are serving as some kind of Great Awokening, many of the same are saying “never mind” about all of that. Protests aren’t profane, they’re glorious and essential — if they agree with what you’re protesting about.
But, now that Trump is resuming his rallies to reinvigorate his base and polish his campaign talking points, the media is back to voicing concerns about spreading the virus unless those rules that were being ignored when the cause was different are reinstituted.
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel addressed those concerns on Fox & Friends on Tuesday: “There are a lot of things we can do to make sure this is safe, but people want to get out and rally. They want to get out and start campaigning and being part of this election for this president.… The enthusiasm for him is through the roof.”
Republican strategists aren’t worried about the media’s pivot, but instead are counting on the exposure of their blatant hypocrisy to mute their criticism of the president’s resumption of his rallies. In fact, they are planning on using the rallies as a metaphor for his campaign’s central focus: reopening the economy as they restart the rallies.
Image: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American, writing primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].
