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One of the big reasons I think a lot of conservative commentators argued that they thought media was overhyping the coronavirus was that it's exactly the type of thing *they* would do in an election year to frame a Democratic president as incompetent.
Luckily, I don't have to think in hypotheticals on this. That IS what they did when they were given the opportunity.
The year was 2014, and Republicans were in a position to retake the Senate from the Democrats in what would be an extraordinarily consequential midterm.
On March 23, 2014, the World Health Organization reported 49 confirmed cases and 29 deaths from Ebola in Guinea, a country in West Africa.
By July, it spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia. When it spread to cities in these countries, that seemed to really raise the alarm for WHO.
By July, it spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia. When it spread to cities in these countries, that seemed to really raise the alarm for WHO.
So in August, WHO declared it a Public Health Emergency.
From the CDC's website: "Over the duration of the epidemic, [Ebola Virus Disease] spread to seven more countries: Italy, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States."
From the CDC's website: "Over the duration of the epidemic, [Ebola Virus Disease] spread to seven more countries: Italy, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States."
In early August, right-wing media found an opportunity to use the Ebola outbreak to advance its other, existing agendas. Specifically, they used it as a chance to claim Obama was too soft on immigration, and claimed people infected would enter through the southern border.
Some examples: https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/right-wing-media-exploit-ebola-outbreak-west-africa-spread-immigration-fears
In September 2014, the Obama White House announced plans to assist in efforts to control the epidemic, calling it "a top national security priority" for the U.S.
The goal was to keep the spread contained before it became a pandemic.
The goal was to keep the spread contained before it became a pandemic.
It had been aware of the outbreak in West Africa since that March, and had been taking proactive steps to help contain it.
And the White House took steps to ensure that hospitals were well-versed on what to do if they encountered possible Ebola cases, highlighting the importance of keeping infected people isolated.
Naturally, conservative media responded to this by mocking the Obama administration for taking the outbreak so seriously. https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/conservatives-find-way-attack-obama-fighting-ebola
Laura Ingraham ranted about how it was actually a secret plot to redistribute American wealth to Africa because... uh... colonialism? https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/ingraham-suggests-obama-willing-expose-american-troops-ebola-atone-colonialism
On September 30, the CDC confirmed a case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S., a traveler from Liberia to Dallas who cleared initial screening but became sick 4 days after arriving in the U.S.
Patient was isolated and contact tracing was initiated
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/s930-ebola-confirmed-case.html
Patient was isolated and contact tracing was initiated
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/s930-ebola-confirmed-case.html
Conservative media reacted to this by saying that clearly the Obama administration's efforts to fight Ebola in West Africa were a failure and suggested that the administration was lying about how many people had it in the U.S. https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/conservative-media-rush-politicize-first-case-ebola-us
Fox responded to this by... airing a video of a man walking through an airport wearing PEP and talking about how the "CDC is lying." He misstates what the CDC said (low chance of Ebola outbreaks here, not low chance of any cases) https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/conservative-media-rush-politicize-first-case-ebola-us
Fox kept turning to any doctor they could find who would churn out bizarre, factually bankrupt nonsense. For instance, this lady: https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/alternate-universe-origins-far-rights-anti-immigrant-ebola-doctor
A right-wing columnist made a ridiculous claim that the government was orchestrating an Ebola crisis in the U.S. as a ploy to confiscate guns https://www.mediamatters.org/worldnetdaily/conservative-columnist-government-orchestrating-ebola-crisis-confiscate-guns
CNN, being a total trainwreck, decided to have the guy who wrote Outbreak (a not-so-accurate work of fiction) on to discuss. Don Lemon, laughably, called his book "prophetic." In his book, Ebola mutates into an airborne virus. That isn't reality. https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnn-turns-outbreak-fiction-writer-ebola-coverage
Then came the right-wing conspiracy theories that Obama was deliberately trying to infect Americans with Ebola. https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/deranged-right-wing-conspiracy-theory-obama-intentionally-wants-infect-nation-ebola
Fox News turned to Keith Ablow, their go-to doctor and part of their "Medical A-Team" to rant about how Obama had an allegiance to Africa or something. https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-docs-racial-rant-obama-welcomes-ebola-because-his-affinities-are-africa
(Unrelated, but if you're curious what the good doctor has been up to lately) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/nyregion/fox-news-keith-ablow-psychiatrist.html
Fox News then wanted to know why there wasn't an "Ebola czar" to handle this. https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/fox-friends-wants-ebola-czar-after-suggesting-use-czars-was-turning-us-russia
Now, it should be noted that up to that point Fox had repeatedly screamed about how the use of "czars" (which isn't actually part of anyone's title) was "turning us into Russia."
So then Obama did exactly what they wanted: he named an Ebola czar, someone to run point on the government's response to all things Ebola, appointing Ron Klain to the role.
And naturally, as soon as he did that, conservatives lost their minds about it, calling Klain unqualified for the job because he wasn't a doctor. The role was to manage the bureaucracy, though, not to treat patients. https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/appointment-ron-klain-ebola-czar-draws-wrath-conservative-media
(Klain currently works for Joe Biden's presidential campaign, and hosts a podcast about the coronavirus pandemic called Epidemic https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/dr-celine-gounder/epidemic-with-dr-celine-gounder-and-ronald-klain )
(More recently, you might remember Klain as the guy in this video) https://twitter.com/joebiden/status/1241416531684331526
Now, of course, the outrage over Klain not having medical experience was manufactured, as conservative media didn't have similar concerns about Bush's Bird Flu czar, who didn't have medical experience https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/flashback-when-conservative-media-didnt-care-bushs-bird-flu-czar-had-no-medical-experience
Now, this whole time, the GOP was using Ebola as the main theme of its midterm campaign, calling the Obama administration's response flawed, etc.
And of course, there were a lot of people working in mainstream media who just ran with it. Here's... Chris Cillizza.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/15/ebola-is-the-2014-elections-october-surprise/?arc404=true
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/15/ebola-is-the-2014-elections-october-surprise/?arc404=true
Even Cillizza acknowledges that it's not RATIONAL to be afraid of that. But Cillizza doesn't care about what's real and what's not. He's big on OPTICS because he's terrible.
By mid-October, mainstream media had bought into the Republican talking point about Obama not doing enough to protect Americans from Ebola, and started running stories based on that fear. https://www.mediamatters.org/washington-post/how-press-doing-gops-ebola-bidding
Here's what right-wing media sounded like around that time:
The cynical ploy worked.
Republicans retook the Senate.
Republicans retook the Senate.
So, how bad was Ebola in the U.S., you might wonder?
7 cases from people evacuated to the U.S. from other countries
4 cases diagnosed in the U.S.
11 total cases.
2 total deaths.
7 cases from people evacuated to the U.S. from other countries
4 cases diagnosed in the U.S.
11 total cases.
2 total deaths.
The only 2 people to contract Ebola in the U.S. (others were all people who had it when traveling here) were nurses caring for one of the other patients.
As far as successes go, the federal government absolutely nailed its response to this. A+ job. But right-wing media won out.
As far as successes go, the federal government absolutely nailed its response to this. A+ job. But right-wing media won out.
So yeah, I understand exactly why people in right-wing media see the way people are responding to the current pandemic and think, "Oh, it's just them trying to use this for political gain."
They do that because it's exactly what they have done in the past and will do again.
They do that because it's exactly what they have done in the past and will do again.
Collected this thread over at my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/posts/35746832
