White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany came prepared today regarding questions about her past rhetoric that appeared to downplay the coronavirus before taking her current White House position last month.
Reuters’ correspondent Jeff Mason asked her, “In a previous life, before you were press secretary, you worked for the [Trump] campaign. And you made a comment, I believe on Fox, in which you said President Trump will not allow the coronavirus to come into this country. Given what has happened since then, obviously, would you like to take that back?”
McEnany responded, “I guess I would turn the question back on the media and ask similar questions. Does Vox want to take back that they proclaim that the coronavirus would not be a deadly pandemic? Does The Washington Post want to take back that they told Americans to ‘get a grip,’ the flu is bigger than the coronavirus? Does The Washington Post, likewise, want to take back that our brains are causing us to exaggerate the threat of the coronavirus? Does The New York Times want to take back that fear of the virus may be spreading faster than the virus itself? Does NPR want to take back that the flu was a much bigger threat than the coronavirus? And finally, once again, The Washington Post, would they like to take back that the government should not respond aggressively to the coronavirus? I’ll leave you with those questions and maybe you’ll have some answers in a few days.”
WATCH:
{Matzav.com}
She was asked a question and completely evaded. All of those news organizations want to take it back, how about you? Just answer the question.
This is so far from brilliant, unless you are a complete imbecile-in which case it is close to brilliant but still not brilliant.
Are you trying to say that the question was indeed a valid and legitimate one?
Or do you want to take back your comments as well…. along with all the lovely media…
It’s brilliant, there is no need for her to answer since the reporter is actually not asking a question – he is just trying to embarrass. She threw it right back at him
That was her answer. Until 3-4 months ago no one thought we would be in the situation we are now.
First she clearly explained what her actual remark on Fox news was, rather than the mis-representation presented by that guy. Then she turned the tables on the questioner.
Yes, she pointed out that she DID NOT say what he had accused her of saying (“President Trump will not allow the coronavirus to come into this country”). She related that, instead, what she had said was THE REASON WHY the President had made certain travel restrictions, which was “we will not see the Coronavirus come here.” In other words, the President had made the travel restrictions as a strong effort to try TO STOP the virus from coming here. So she had not predicted the future saying what would happen; rather, she had explained the purpose of the President’s action (of the travel restrictions) was to try to PREVENT certain bad things from happening.
For every article she cited there are ten stating the opposite. Citing VOX is a sign she had to dig deep. President Trump has access to the best intelligence and he ignored it all. He is now spending 500 million dollars to paint his futile wall the color black. There are no paywalls on Washington Post and NY Times for articles regarding Coronavirus. I suggest the Trump supporters read them.
I started visiting Matzav website because they would always tell me important Yahrzeits. It is disheartening the words Matzav uses to describe FOX news shows. I hope you all don’t start posting OANN clips. Trump Junior and others are trying to invest in that station.
Your dumb
Do you “you’re” chacham?
Do you mean “you’re”, chacham?
FYI really is a Tippish.
yea, maybe there were 10 against, after they were able to get trump for it, but i listen to the radio when i drive, and daily, they were saying how “panic” is the real issue. wcbs 880 btw.
add to that all the politicians, given large and supportive media coverage, who visited china town and said to come out here, and i’m left with the conclusion that you are very likely just biased against trump.
[yes i know he downplayed it too, the point is you are trying to say the media were reporting it factually while they very clearly werent, i’m no fan of trump, but i HATE the media]
shes just saying no one know how serious its gonna be
They weren’t really asking for information. They wanted to play gotcha. She struck back.
You may have missed it, but she DID answer the question first before going on offense against the media. Watch it again.
She was brilliantly prepared to answer those leftists hypocrites
Her answer was ridiculous and it is why she immediately left and stopped taking more questions.
Did you ever hear of al tadin? If I were trump, this lady or anybody (including all the media she mentioned), I would have said the same as they all said, and so would you. As a situation evolves, you reconsider, recalculate and reformulate. So yes, I would have said the same.
Now that the tables have turned, wacko libtards love to play gotcha game, all the while ignoring that they also preached likewise. Al tadin? I don’t know if I would be able to backstab just for ratings. would you?
You bring up a good point regardig the aspect that we are ALL being hipocrytical. But i just want to point out that “al Tadin” surely doesnt apply here, it isnt the coventional “dont judge” which is stupidity.
Brilliant ,and prepared for the vultures.
Wow!
Kol hakavod!
She handled it classy and sharp and geshmak.
Keep it up.
Beautiful! Trump should learn from her!
soooooo
is she taking it back?
I didnt catch her answer
Hey @fakenews i guess it went right over your head she’s obviously saying no one knew what kind of devastating disease was heading our way so don’t be such smart alecks either
THATS ANSWERING THE QUESTION HER POINT IS THAT THE COMMON BELIEF BY EVERYBODY WAS THAT IT WASNT THIS BAD SO SHE WAS GOING ACCORDING TO WHAT WAS KNOWN SHE WASNT IN CHINA TO SEE IT FIRST HAND
Hey fake news ***
You serious?
All these stinkpots want to do is harass Trump.
They’re not interested in answers.
Way to go, Kayleigh
Michael Gerson Washington Post
May 4, 2020 at 3:46 p.m. EDT
President Trump’s April 23 White House briefing — in which he proposed a novel coronavirus research agenda of injected or ingested disinfectants — may be remembered as the moment his schtick finally failed.
Of course, there have been plenty of other examples of arrogant ignorance. Trump has made a career of career-ending gaffes. After each, he has picked himself up, dusted himself off, and embraced idiocy with renewed dedication and enthusiasm.
But I get the sense that this was different. In the aftermath, Trump’s self-excusing lie — claiming he was engaged in sarcasm — was painful to behold. Then a president who had repeatedly bragged about his boffo television ratings during a national crisis — as though the death toll were providing him with good monologue material — was yanked from the daily briefing stage.
The difference this time was not the act in the foreground but rather the accompaniment. Behind Trump’s expected drama, a drum now beats for every lonely, quarantined death from covid-19. More than a thousand beats each day. The president tweets about a favorable poll. Beat. He refers to a prominent woman as a “dog.” Beat. He brags about a golf course he owns. Beat. He attacks one of his predecessors for urging national unity. Beat. He posts a video of Mike Tyson. Beat. He accuses another predecessor of organizing a treasonous deep-state conspiracy against him. Beat. He goes after the “Lamestream Media.” Beat. He throws his intelligence briefers under the bus on coronavirus warnings. Beat. He compares himself to Abraham Lincoln. Beat.
In light of the coronavirus threat, the Trump Show has become sickening and surreal. This is less a presidency than a failing Vegas variety act, trying to keep a dwindling audience with more cleavage and dirtier jokes. The president recently took the side of “very good people” carrying guns, swastikas and nooses in Michigan. But didn’t he already take the side of “very fine people” carrying guns and Confederate flags in 2017 in Charlottesville? Perhaps there is a list of diversionary tactics in the top drawer of the Resolute desk. Is it time to go after a black athlete or a black mayor or a black legislator? How about complaining of rigged elections and hinting at a third presidential term? Or is the moment right to attack Muslims or Mexican migrants?
Trump’s repertoire is not only stale; it now represents the dishonoring of sacred responsibilities. It is increasingly evident that our Neronian president fiddled while portions of America burned. He preferred to live in a land of hopeful dreams and happy talk for several weeks while a pandemic spread, cough by hacking cough. He ignored warnings in the expectation that a virus would respect his political strategy and cooperate in attempts to talk up the stock market. It was a risk he was willing to take — though the consequences have fallen on others.
By trying to reassign seats in the White House briefing room, the Trump administration is attempting to stifle real journalism, says media critic Erik Wemple. (Video: Kate Woodsome, Joshua Carroll, Erik Wemple/Photo: Jabin Botsford / WP/The Washington Post)
The U.S. reaction to covid-19 lacked presidential leadership from the beginning. The basics of pandemic response are not a mystery. The country needed a national strategy of testing, tracing and quarantine, including the systematic provision of tests and tracing support where needed. But for months, the United States lagged badly behind the world in testing (and remains far behind Germany and Italy). And out of an estimated national need for 100,000 to 300,000 contact tracers, a recent National Public Radio survey of states found 7,062 currently employed. (South Africa, by way of comparison, has about 28,000 contact tracers.)
This is utter failure by any measure. A pandemic cannot be confronted by the patchwork policies of states, cities and counties. Those divisions mean nothing to the virus. We needed a national effort to provide tests. We need national standards and detailed guidance on economic reopening — not the vague, dumbed-down version the administration dumped on the states. We need federal support, guidance and monitoring to ensure that contact tracing is done well.
One expert on epidemiology told me via email: “I recently listened to a National Academy of Sciences event on covid-19. The head of the Chinese [Center for Disease Control and Prevention] mapped out what they did and how they are approaching reopening — all from a national perspective. A number of European countries also have sophisticated strategies. It makes what the U.S. is doing look like a kindergarten homework assignment. Appalling. Just appalling.”
And what does our president do? He struts and frets and dissembles and whines and mugs for the audience. And always behind his tired act, the beat, beat, beat.
Hey,
Your leftist friends like Nancy Shivering Pelosi said at that point of time that we should all go to China Town and the travel ban was xenophobic.
fyi= you are truly pathetic! putting so much energy and effort to produce such a pile of drivel!President Trump has produced spectacular results domestically ,intrnationally and for Jews and Israel!
FYI really is a Tippish.
The point is that the question wasn’t a proper journalistic question. A journalist’s job is to obtain information on behalf of the public. It’s to ask questions that we would ask if we could. But this question wasn’t a request for information. It was simply intended to embarrass McEnany.
I’ve been watching Gov. Cuomo’s daily press conferences, and he doesn’t get questions like this. The reporters are always respectful of him, and the questions are about things that the reporter genuinely wants to know. Even the questions about nursing homes, where Cuomo certainly appears to have failed badly, have been respectful.
A very excellent observation!!
Yes, it is glaringly clear that the (so-called) “mainstream” media wants to emphatically promote the radical-leftest-tyrannical-Democrat-pro-abortion-pro-Toeiva-world-depopulation agenda and has an insatiable, severe hatred of President Trump and anyone else who is not in their line. So, this situation is similar to that of the “battered child”: where “the good little girl” (no matter what terrible things she does) “she can do no wrong!” but “the bad little boy” (no matter how very hard he tries to help and do good things) “he can do no right!”
@fakenews she did answer listen- I explained why the travel ban was put in place which is not to let the virus…. it wasn’t predicting the future and at the time the fake news was against the ban including sleepy joe…
shes a great press secretary
So why won’t she reveal what really happened on 9/11/01?
Be aware that Soros funded groups are behind a flood of posts and tweets on social media out to destroy Trump.
Facebook is a radical leftist mob who censors pro Trump, pro values comments. We’re being overrun by vicious liars on hourly basis. They spread misinfo and disinfo to convince the gullible.