As my colleague Sister Toldjah reported earlier, reporter Olivia Nuzzi actually asked President Donald Trump, “If an American president loses more Americans over the course of six weeks than died in the entirety of the Vietnam war, does he deserve to be re-elected?”
Video: Truly pathetic end to today's Coronavirus Task Force briefing as NY Mag's Olivia Nuzzi wondered -> "If an American president loses more Americans over the course of six weeks than died in the entirety of the Vietnam war, does he deserve to be re-elected?" pic.twitter.com/bN6mn6b14n
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 27, 2020
While Trump gave a perfectly reasonable response, the question was not a perfectly reasonable question.
First, the question suggests Trump actions are responsible for the deaths. So is he responsible for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s order requiring nursing homes to take Wuhan coronavirus patients, resulting in deaths? Was he responsible for both Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio keeping the subways open? And if there are fewer deaths than predicted as is the case, then hasn’t he done a good job?
But the bigger problem is the flaw and the bias in the question to begin with, as Sister Toldjah pointed out.
More than 2.8 million Americans die each year — 235,000 per month. Cancer alone kills 600,000 Americans each year — 50,000 per month.
If the national death toll determines whether a president "deserves to be reelected," then no president does. https://t.co/0JqpbeF67r
— Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) April 28, 2020
Exactly. The rules and the goalposts are always shifted to attack Trump.
But Nuzzi isn’t the only one pushing this nonsense.
Here comes The Bulwark with a similar nonsensical comparison. Must have had the memo go out.
COVID-19 Is This Generation’s Vietnam – The Bulwark https://t.co/T3Pn8r7nSK
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) April 28, 2020
Now you can go read it, but we’ll sum it up as one of the dumber things ever claimed.
Seen in this light, the most damning aspect of the Vietnam war wasn’t the casualty count—as bad as it was. And it wasn’t the mission: However misunderstood it has become over the decades, the idea of containing communist expansion might have been imprudent or poorly executed, but it was not crazy.
No, the signature problem of the Vietnam war was that it was a glaring failure of American political leadership—and the first failure of America’s military establishment.
We’re only a few weeks into this and there definitely may be a lot of negative things that come out of this, including the ease with which people accept the government imposing arbitrary restrictions on their constitutional rights and the willingness some people have to become snitches to enforce those arbitrary restrictions. We’ve even had drones spying to spot violators of social distancing, with the added bonus that the drones were “donated” by China.
But no, this isn’t even close to the Vietnam War, what people went through fighting there or the generational change that accompanied it (although Communism, like now, certainly factored into it) and to suggest it is, is not to understand history and to disrespect those who fought there.
Honestly, wouldn't it be easier to just go spit in a Vietnam veteran's face? https://t.co/oVuJsaIRvq
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) April 28, 2020
Read it. The comparison is terrible. It’s insulting imo.
In no universe should a virus be compared to soldiers giving up their lives in war for their country.
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) April 28, 2020
I think Vietnam’s veterans probably have a different perspective on the 19 year war…. https://t.co/kje69uRIy5
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) April 28, 2020
As the daughter of a Vietnam era vet, who watched him and his fellow Honor Flight attendees cry at the memorial wall, this is not Vietnam. Not even close. https://t.co/zx7w5eNoiv
— Amy Curtis (@RantyAmyCurtis) April 28, 2020
“Me and my brothers we stayed inside watching Netflix for weeks only to re-emerge to a country that spit on us and called us hermits… I never even got my relief check…” pic.twitter.com/iIB9NVE2dh
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 28, 2020
— Tom Sileo (@TSileo) April 28, 2020
How much will they throw their credibility under the bus to write something against Trump? What exactly are they “conserving” with such nonsense?
HT: Twitchy
Join the conversation as a VIP Member