FILE – This Tuesday, July 19, 2016, file photo shows the Google logo at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other social platforms have been waging a fight against online misinformation and hate speech for two years. With the U.S. midterm elections coming soon on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, there are signs that they’re making some headway, although they’re still a long way from winning the war. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
On Friday, President Trump gave the press conference that should have been given Wednesday night. It was confident, it showed the administration had not only done its homework but it had a fairly detailed plan to deal with the Wuhan virus. Not only were top administrators and scientists present, also on hand were the CEOs of major corporations with a significant community presence, like WalMart and CVS, to pledge their assistance in the national effort. Here’s the whole news conference cued up to the beginning:
One of the elements of the speech was this:
“I want to thank Google. Google is helping to develop a website. It is going to be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past, to determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location.
“We have many, many locations behind us, by the way. We cover the — this country and a large part of the world. By the way, we’re not talking about the world right now. But we cover very — very strongly our country, stores in virtually every location. Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now. They’ve made tremendous progress.”
This is huge. Google has more computing power…and a better work ethic…than CDC or any other federal agency. Getting them on the team was a big get particularly since Google is well-known to be Ground Zero of Trump Hate in Big Tech.
This is how the media reacted.
"The 1,700 engineers Mr. Trump mentioned were actually just Google employees who said a day earlier that they would be happy to volunteer their time on the project if needed." https://t.co/JTyhZYrpr4
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 15, 2020
Among Trump’s most brazen lies was the whopper he told the nation about Google’s supposed plans for an all-purpose Coronavirus website. He just made the whole thing up as if nobody would bother checking — and as if he knew his credibility was zero anyway https://t.co/kf8s9SVFju
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 14, 2020
What a long, strange trip it’s been. From slapping “Trump Steak” labels on a West Palm company’s beef (at election presser) to inventing a fake Google site at a coronavirus press conference, the common thread remains:
Trump Always Lies. pic.twitter.com/70Uh8GJLKc— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) March 14, 2020
Google has responded:
“We are fully aligned and continue to work with the US Government to contain the spread of COVID-19, inform citizens, and protect the health of our communities. (1/6) https://t.co/eI1uXra6AB
— Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 15, 2020
This has left egg on the face of the people who jumped the gun simply to be able to call President Trump a liar. In the case of Brian Stelter, his fat face took a lot of eggs.
Looks like @jaketapper has really got some explaining to do pic.twitter.com/AeeLweiVuW
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 15, 2020
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) March 15, 2020
Why would the media run with this falsehood in the midst of a just-declared ‘national emergency?’ The answer is pretty obvious. When one compares this media frenzy to similar viral epidemics over the last decade, one is struck by the deliberate panic-mongering among the media and the number of articles about Wuhan virus that have as their complete focus how this will hurt President Trump and how this is his “Hurricane Katrina” or even his “Chernobyl.” When it became obvious that his press conference on Friday had stabilized jittery financial markets and was being well received everywhere outside major newsrooms, something had to be done to at least temporarily blunt the effect. Never mind that the objections would be debunked…the media would really have to report the debunking before most of American would hear about it. It was a cheap and gratuitous hit that put a political agenda above the well-being of the country and the safety of Americans.
Much has been said about President Trump labeling #FakeNews as the enemy of the people. But, based on what we’ve seen of the media in action thus far, you really need to ask yourself, “if the media really were the enemy of the people how would their actions differ from what we’re seeing right now?”
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