Democratic
presidential candidate former U.S. Senator and Vice President Joe Biden
delivers remarks about the coronavirus outbreak, at the Hotel Du Pont March 12,
2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
As the nation panics over the coronavirus (COVID-19),
Washington Democrats and their media allies are doing their best to weaponize
the issue.
From their point of view, the virus is too great a
political opportunity to waste.
The weaponizing of the virus for political gain has
already begun — at the expense of the economy and the livelihoods of Americans.
You would think that, in this time of national crisis,
Democratic leaders would call for political unity in fighting the disease
— not quite.
Instead, they are spreading their own "virus of
divisiveness."
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders,
I-Vt., accused the Trump administration of "incompetence and
recklessness" [that] has "threatened the lives of many people in our
country."
Former Vice-President
Biden added more fuel to the virus panic, saying, " . . .
Public fears are being compounded by a pervasive lack of trust in this
president."
This is just more of the left's divisive rhetoric.
It's so disgusting to hear Washington Democrats,
left-wing media pundits, supporters of Joe Biden — and Biden himself — say that
President Trump has created an atmosphere of hate and divisiveness in the
country.
On ABC's "This Week" in February of this year,
Biden said that Trump was "dividing us based on race" and that he
"has not condemned white supremacy and neo-Nazis."
His comments were refuted by Factcheck.org which
cited Trumps Aug. 14, 2017 statement saying, in part:
" . . . we condemn in the strongest possible terms
this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. It has no place in
America . . . Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name or are
criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and
other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as
Americans."
Political intolerance and divisiveness weren't born with
Donald Trump — it began in the Obama administration.
An October CNN/ORC, poll revealed that a majority of
Americans said relations between blacks and whites in the U.S. had worsened
under Obama.
A month later, in November of 2016, a Gallup
poll found that 77 percent of Americans, a then new high, believed
the nation was divided on the most important of values.
Since Trump took office, the left has raised the level of
political intolerance, inciteful rhetoric, and divisiveness against those who
dare disagree with their brand of politics.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., is a good
example.
His recent threatening
remarks targeting two members of the U.S. Supreme Court-- Justices
Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch — are a good example of how the left is
spreading its virus of divisiveness:
"I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you,
Kavanaugh, "You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.
You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."
His comments were roundly
condemned.
It's obvious that Schumer and his friends on the left
have already forgotten — or don't care — what the virus of hate and its
rhetoric can lead to.
On June 14, 2017, a supporter of Democratic presidential
candidate Bernie Sanders opened
fire on Republican politicians in Alexandria, Virginia, seriously
wounding House GOP Whip Steve
Scalise of Louisiana and four others.
In October of 2019 eleven people were killed
when a gunman entered Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue and
opened fire on the congregants. "The victims ranged in age from 54 to 97;
eight were men, three were women. Two of them were brothers, and two were a
married couple."
In December of 2019 six people were killed in a
targeted Jewish
kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey, including six
bystanders.
Of course, not all hatful rhetoric leads to violence — it
just suggests it.
Just one day after Trumps inauguration, entertainer Madonna told
the anti-Trump Women's March, "Yes, I have thought an awful lot about
blowing up the White House . . . "
And we all remember actress Kathy
Griffin posting a picture of her holding up a bloody decapitated
head of Donald Trump; Rep.
Maxine Waters, D-Calif., telling her supporters to harass members of
the Trump administration in a "restaurant, in a department store, at a
gasoline station…," Senator
Cory Booker, D-N.J., saying he felt like "punching" Trump;
and, actor Johnny
Depp asking a crowd in England, "When was the last time an
actor assassinated a president?"
Just imagine the reaction of the left-wing media and
Democrat establishment if conservatives had engaged in such conduct and speech
against Barack Obama!
You can bet that many of them are quietly hoping that the
coronavirus spreads and the economy sinks — regardless of the cost to the
country — because they think it will hurt President Trump.
A sad commentary on the left's virus of
political hate and divisiveness!
Clarence
V. McKee is president of McKee Communications, Inc., a government, political,
and media relations consulting firm in Florida. He held several positions in
the Reagan administration as well as in the Reagan presidential campaigns. He
is a former co-owner of WTVT-TV in Tampa and former president of the Florida
Association of Broadcasters. Read more of his reports — Go
Here Now.
