By Clarence McKee
Washington,
D.C. - Feb. 4, 2020 - U.S. House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and U.S.
President Donald Trump during the State of the Union address in the chamber of
the U.S. House of Representatives (Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought out the
best in President Donald J. Trump, the worst in both the national media and
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Regarding the president, he is both the leader
and man of the hour.
Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt were the leaders
and men of the hour in World War II. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was
the leader and man of the hour in the civil rights fight. President George W.
Bush was the nation’s leader and man of the hour during 9/11.
President Trump is now the leader and man of the hour in
the war against the coronavirus.
The American people are getting to see the man his
friends, family and supporters know —a leader with tremendous skill, brilliance
and love for our country.
As his good friend, Newsmax CEO Chris
Ruddy recently wrote, Trump is "calm and doesn’t panic,
decisive, and follows the evidence, not the hype."
He has mobilized the private sector to join with the
government in the greatest public-private sector partnership to defeat the most
formidable enemy since World War II.
Companies like Jockey International, Proctor and Gamble,
United Technologies, Ford Motor Company, Federal Express, United Parcel
Service, LabCorp, Walmart and so many others, including Johnson and Johnson
(and other drug makers) have mobilized to develop drugs to treat COVID-19
patients.
Does anyone really think that this would have happened
under socialist Bernie Sanders or slow-thinking Joe Biden?
These are many of the same companies that so many
progressives use as political whipping posts, holding in contempt even though
they employ millions of Americans.
Just as the president has shown great leadership, much of
the national media has reinforced why so many Americans view a once lauded
industry with disdain.
A recent Gallup
poll ranking the responses of nine leaders and institutions to the
virus found that 60% of Americans thought president Trump was doing a good job.
The news media ranked dead last at 44
percent. It is their worst hour.
Journalists such as Washington Post media analyst Margaret
Sullivan are good examples. She has called for a complete media
blackout of President Trump’s live briefings and updates on the
virus saying that they promote misinformation.
Another example of why the media is held is such low
esteem is seen in the daily White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefings.
Many of the reporters dedicate their time being
antagonistic and asking, as the president has described, "nasty,"
"snarky, "or "Gotcha!" questions aimed at getting
headlines and soundbites instead of real information.
Some in the media outright accuse the president of murder
as the Ruddy article noted.
Others, such as CNN’s Don
Lemon, describe the press briefings as Trump’s "new
'Apprentice'" adding that they’ve "become his new rallies."
Such hatred and vitriol against the president are also on
display in the print media.
Just look at The Boston Globe editorial saying
that the president has “blood on his hands” for the COVID-19 epidemic.
For Democratic leaders, like much of the national media,
the pandemic crisis is an opportunity to use — to get rid of, or at least
damage, the president and his re-election prospects.
Nancy Pelosi is the poster child for this strategy
telling CNN that
"while the president fiddles, people are dying."
And how does she and her views rank with the American
people?
According to a recent McLaughlin
poll published in Newsmax, she is disliked by a majority
of voters by a 55 percent to 37 percent margin.
She and her friends in the media apparently care more
about pleasing each other and destroying Trump than they care about the
American people.
Her vitriolic rants against the president and delaying
the economic stimulus bill in an attempt to load it with pork to appease her
progressive base make this her worst hour!
She and the media will be major reasons why the
president, regardless of the virus, will win by a landslide in
November.
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.
