I'll start this blog post by, again, rewinding to my childhood in West Virginia and playing back a conversation. People, strangers, clerks in stores for example, would often asked me, "Where are you from?" I'd say, "We live in Suncrest", and they'd insist, "No, where are you from, like where were you born?" I'd say, "I was born in Wisconsin. I'm an American," and they'd press some more, "No, where is your family from?" I'd say "My parents are from Taiwan," and they'd say something like, "Well, you speak English real good."
You want to get through your day, so you let those moments roll away. There were times I'd ask why, but the result was almost always defensiveness and anger, discomfort, and nothing gained.
I have watched so much of the coverage of President Trump's performances during the pandemic, but I am personally appalled by his use of racial micro-aggressions during the press conferences (and his sexist micro-aggressions and his not-so-micro-aggressions). It's difficult for anyone to watch this exchange with Weijia Jiang, and not cringe. For me it feels very familiar, as well as super cringey.
But unlike some slack-jawed local yokel, Trump is surrounded by assistants, press people, various 'secretaries', etc. Isn't someone telling him his words are inappropriate? But he does not hire advisors; he hires enablers. Trump is a bully who enjoys being a bully: name-calling, exaggerating, lying, belittling. It seems his behavior cannot be amended – can it? If someone tried to change his behavior, what would that look like?
Weijia Jiang is the White House Correspondent for CBS News. She grew up in West Virginia, too. She has been the White House Correspondent for nearly two years, though half that time was spent with Stephanie Grisham as Press Secretary, so there were no press briefings for quite a lot of Jiang's tenure. So it might be possible to excuse the President for not knowing the White House Correspondent from CBS News back when the pandemic and the briefings started. But now? Does anyone prep him? Let's look back at some of the public interactions between Jiang and Trump.
Kung-Flu
After the tweet, Jiang, PBS Newshour's Yamiche Alcindor, and other reporters got into a drawn-out back and forth with Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway. Conway pushed back by asking the name of the source, and clarifying that she was married to an Asian American (George Conway's mother is Filipino). However for his part, Mr. Conway has written and commented, frequently and vigorously, that Trump is a racist.
You Ought to Be Ashamed
The notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile. It’s not supposed to be states' stockpiles that they then use.Trump responded by asking, "What’s that? A gotcha? I gotcha? When you use the word 'our.'?" He then explained that Kushner was referring to the federal government, which would send resources to the states. When Jiang pointed out that Kushner had specifically said the stockpile was not for the states, Trump said, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You know what? You ought to be ashamed." Before cutting Jiang off and moving on to the next reporter, the President added, "You just asked your question in a very nasty tone."
Just Relax
At the briefing on April 19th, Trump responded to Jiang's questions about delays in warning the country by asking her, "Who are you with?" How does he still not know the WH Correspondent from CBS? Does he think she's from some Chinese press group? And his answer was, paraphrasing, "Look at what I did by banning China." As she clarified that the travel restrictions were not a ban, and tried to get a proper answer about the delays, he told her, "Nice and easy, nice and easy. Just relax."
When she explained that when the 'ban' was issued, the virus was already in the US, he replied by questioning her, "How many cases were there? Do you know the number?" She again tried to to refocus on her question about the delays, and he asked her to, "Keep your voice down. Please, keep your voice down." And he went on lying about how he 'closed up the entire country'.
You Should Ask China
Which brings us to yesterday's press conference in the Rose Garden, with banners on either side of the podium that read, 'America Leads the World in Testing', in all-caps. Trump literally proclaimed victory as the death toll sped past eighty thousand:
In every generation, through every challenge, and hardship, and danger, America has risen to the task, we have met the moment—and we have prevailed. Americans do whatever it takes to find solutions, pioneer breakthroughs, and harness the energies we need to achieve a total victory.Jiang asked Trump about his statements that the US is doing 'far better' with testing than other countries, and why it matters if people were still losing their lives in the US. The President countered by suggesting to Jiang:
And maybe that's a question you should ask China. Don't ask me, ask China that question, okay?As Trump punched that first Chi-na, Jiang sat confused for several seconds. The microphone cut in and out, as some staffer prevented rebuttal. The cameras caught her giving Trump a look that said, 'that sounded really racist.' As CNN's Kaitlan Collins approached the mic, it came live again, and she allowed Jiang to follow-up, "Why are you saying that to me, specifically, that I should ask China?" Trump said, "I'm saying that to anybody that would ask a nasty question like that." He then refused to let Collins ask a question, motioned to another reporter, Yamiche Alcindor, who motioned back toward Collins. Trump then thanked the group, and walked away from the podium.
In the above CNN video, Brian Stelter calls out the President's pattern of behavior, specifically referring back to Trump's asking that April Ryan, an African American, setup a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. This is why Trump's behavior cannot be dismissed; it is a pattern. Trump continues to react to female reporters and reporters of color in ways that should not be made light.
To Collins, Alcindor, and especially Jiang – my hat is off to all of you. Thank you.
Anyone Who Wants a Test Gets a Test
By the way, according to Worldometer, the US has done almost ten million (9,658,402) tests for coronavirus. By count, that is the most of any country on the world. Next highest, Russia has done about six million (5,805,404) Germany has done about three million (2,755,770). However, Trump's repeated claim that 'anyone who wants a test gets a test' is verifiably false, and has been throughout this pandemic.
However, if we rank the countries by population, per capita, the US is thirty-eighth at about thirty thousand per million (29,761/million). Granted, there are quite a few small countries at the top of the table, but the US is ahead of the UK (in 39th place with 29,566/m) but behind the following: Canada (in 36th with 30,099/m), Germany (in 32nd with 32,891/m), Portugal (in 14th with 54,277/m), Denmark (12th with 57,709/m), the UAE (2nd with 121,330/m), and Iceland (1st with 160,563/m). The President has been saying that the US testing leads by far, but that is simply not the case.
cases: 4,324,327 global • 1,402,275 USA • 27,913 Portugal
deaths: 291,693 global • 83,121 USA • 1,163 Portugal
UPDATE: Amazingly, Georgia's Department of Health has changed their graphs! The data in the fourteen-day window no longer shows the connecting lines between the data-points. I'd argue that keeping the data-points in a scatter-graph for the rolling average is still odd, but it is at least visually differentiated.
UPDATE: Hold on, the inventor of the N95 mask is an immigrant and a Taiwanese American named Peter Tsai? And he came out of retirement to try to help fight the pandemic?
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