The coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19, has now spread to more than 40 countries around the world, affecting business, travel, and our very notion of what beard and mustache styles are most disease-resistant. On Tuesday, Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the Centers for Disease Control warned that there's likely no way to prevent the disease from spreading in the U.S. "Ultimately, we expect we will see community spread in the United States. It's not a question of if this will happen, but when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses," she said.
What would normally be a routine public health announcement kicked off one of several right-wing conspiracies about the coronavirus. Messonier, it turns out, is the sister of Rod Rosenstein, the former deputy attorney general who appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. So naturally, in the right-wing ecosystem, Messonier's warning about the virus, coming while the president was visiting India, is just one more deep state plot.
In a blog post on Wednesday, conservative pundit Wayne Dupree wrote, "Rod Rosenstein as we all know definitely worked to undermine the Trump administration, which is oddly exactly what his sister is doing by undermining the more logical and calm message the president’s team has issued on the virus." The far-right, conspiracy-friendly blog Gateway Pundit also ran with Messonnier's family ties, headlining one article, "Just Like Her Corrupt Brother Rod Rosenstein—The CDC's Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Drops a Bomb on President Trump While On International Trip"
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh joined in on Wednesday, saying, "The coronavirus is being weaponized to bring down Donald Trump," and that, "It's nothing more than the common cold." He added that the media was desperate for ammunition against the president: "They would love for the coronavirus to be this deadly strain that wipes everybody out, so they could blame Trump for it."
Worldwide, the death toll has hit 3,000. Japan has cancelled school through April. Designer Giorgio Armani cancelled his brand's Fashion Week show in Milan. Facebook also cancelled its upcoming global marketing conference in San Francisco. Cruise lines have been cancelling trips to Asia, and JetBlue has started offering free flight cancelations and route changes for any passengers heading to the continent.
Limbaugh's not alone in claiming that news outlets are trying to use the pandemic to smear Trump—the president agrees. On Wednesday morning, hours before he held a news conference about the country's coronavirus response, Trump tweeted, "Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!"
At a rambling and medically uniformed press briefing, Trump downplayed the outbreak, saying that it was "a little bit like the flu...and we'll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner," even though it will be some time before a vaccine for the new coronavirus is available. He defended his decision to make multiple massive budget cuts at the Centers for Disease Control, hobbling the agency's preparedness to handle an outbreak. "I'm a businessperson," he said. "I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need them." Trump also announced that vice president Mike Pence would be heading up the U.S. response to the coronavirus, a worrying decision in light of the fact that during his time as governor of Indiana, Pence oversaw the largest HIV outbreak in the state's history. Pence undermined preventative work in Indiana prior to the outbreak, and he waited two months before declaring a state of emergency.
The stock market, one of the things Trump loves to point to as evidence that his presidency is a success, has been in free fall for six days now as the outbreak has slowed the economy in China and investors abandon investments out of fear of losing money as the virus spreads.
The Fox News provocateur has a few regrets for the way he's treated guests.
