Authentic Outrage of Female Asian-American Reporter at Trump's Racism Made Him Scuttle Away. Her Indignant Courage Still Haunts Us a Week Later.
May 21, 2020
May 11 “Daily Trump Show” briefing excerpt in which CBS news reporter Weijia Jiang calls out Trump on his racist remark to her. (You Tube)
MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH
On Monday, May 11, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang asked a reasonable question (see video above for full exchange) as to why Trump keeps asserting that the US is doing more testing than any other nation (a technical canard since the US lags in per capita testing) when the pandemic is still raging. Trump responded by chastising Jiang: “…maybe that’s a question you should ask CHI-na. Don’t ask me, ask China that question.”
Jiang who considers herself “a China-born West Virginian” (where she grew up in a small town) was startled and outraged that she should be singled out as an Asian-American. She pulled her protective mask down, leaned forward in her chair and forcefully demanded of Trump: “Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically, that I should ask China?”
In his normalized misogynist manner, he accused Jiang of asking a “nasty question.”
“That’s not a nasty question,” Jiang responded as the White House cut off her mic as she repeated, “Why does that matter [the misleading claim of the US doing more testing than other nations]?”
At that point, Trump tried his usual escape route from questions that reveal his con; he called on another reporter, Kaitlan Collins of CNN, who yielded her time back to Jiang. This unnerved Trump, so he proceeded to ignore Collins by calling on the intrepid and unflappable Yamiche Alcindor who didn’t respond in order to support Jiang.
In the face of the rare White House press corps solidarity, Trump cut the “briefing” short by announcing, “Ladies and gentleman, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.” Then he pivoted and scuttled off the podium.
Robert Mackey of The Intercept called it “a sudden ending to what Trump had clearly expected to be a largely self-promotional event — during which he told Americans, on the day that the coronavirus death toll passed 80,000, ‘We have met the moment, and we have prevailed.’”
It wasn’t the first time Trump had attacked Jiang. At an April 19 “Daily Trump Show,” Jiang had challenged Trump on why so little was done in February to contain COVID-19 when the pandemic began raging “like wildfire” and Trump was conducting rowdy campaign rallies. Trump responded, falsely, that he cut off all visitors from China. When Jiang interrupted him, Trump admonished Jiang with eerie, condescending language, “Nice and easy, nice and easy, just relax….Keep your voice down.”
Jiang continued to counter his misleading claims before he moved on to another reporter.
The video (at top of the commentary) of the May 11 encounter between Jiang and the racist, misogynist and cruelly insulting Trump haunts us. Why? Because it was so authentic a reminder of what the DC press corps is supposed to be doing, pushing back hard at Trump’s propaganda, betrayals and massive number of lies.
We have noted some of the journalists who actually have gone beyond obsequious questions. The above mentioned Yamiche Alcindor is one. BuzzFlash has posted commentaries on her twice: “PBS Reporter Calls Trump a Liar to His Face”; and, “PBS Reporter Yamiche Alcindor Challenges Trump to His Face to Accept Responsibility for Shutting Down WH Pandemic Preparedness Division. He Responded by Calling Her "Nasty" and Cutting Off Her Mic.”
But for the most part, White House press corps reporters don’t want to jeopardize their elite status in the journalistic pecking order and proximity to power. They also help their careers when they get the opportunity to ask Trump a question, so they generally don’t want to piss him off and not be called on again. Remember, covering the White House is part of the news industry, and ratings and readers come with access to Trump and his staff, not with being put on a “do not call on” list.
Trump can control daily news cycles, launching new narratives to divert attention from deadly failures, scandals, dictatorial actions, etc. The attention span of the hi-tech press is short and always in demand for “new material.” Trump has trained the press, who generally put up with his insults and bigotry, that he will offer up provocative and sensationalistic news pronouncements, which increase corporate profits of the mainstream press, but in return the White House press corps understands that its main objective, on the whole, is not ferreting out the truth; it is reporting Trump’s latest shocking statement, action or lie as if transcribed.
One need only look at the COVID-19 infestation of the White House, with three staffers with daily contact with Trump (his valet), Pence (his press secretary) and Ivanka Trump (her personal assistant), and see how quickly a major story disappears as the press like a pack of hounds pursues Trump’s latest ludicrous tweet or shocking statement. Trump didn’t want any media emphasizing that if the White House isn’t safe from COVID-19, why should workers be sent back to jobs where there is no daily testing?
At the end of April, I recall reading a CNN article, “An ER doctor who continued to treat patients after she recovered from Covid-19 has died by suicide.” Shortly thereafter, I watched an interview with the sister of Laura Breen, the emergency room doctor, who said that Breen had told her working with COVID-19 patients flooding her hospital and dying before they were even admitted was like “Armageddon.”
As I write this commentary, 95,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. The news media has not focused on the prevention of a death toll that could have been reduced by 80-90% with earlier containment strategies, nor have they helped us mourn these deaths, and the millions more unnecessary ones yet to come because the mainstream press has adopted Trump’s narrative about the “reopening” of the US economy. And they take diversions such as Trump’s sudden claim of using hydroxychloroquine as legitimate news rather than holding Trump accountable for his “culling the herd” strategy and obstructing containment of the virus, not to mention the rampant corruption associated with government contracts related to the Coronavirus.
News is now profit-driven, and as for Trump’s crony corporate buddies, there is money to be made off of a pandemic.
In that moment last Monday when Weijia Jiang exhibited emotional and professional outrage at a racist president, we were reminded that journalism is at its best when it holds truth to power, when it tries to capture the authentic detail, when it reveals to us the con and the bigot. The DC press corps, for the most part, has abandoned those principles and covers Trump as a profitable ringmaster.
Shortly, 100,000 American lives will have been lost to COVID-19, largely to Trump’s obstruction of efforts to contain it. Make no mistake about it, although Trump scapegoats the media as “the enemy,” he could never have achieved his sacrificing of American lives to the Dow Jones without the enabling of most of the DC press corps.
Weijia Jiang, with the assistance of Kaitlan Collins and Yamiche Alcindor, reminds us that it doesn’t have to be this way, that with courage and outrage, the DC press corps can get the rat to scamper away.
Also Read These Other Recent BuzzFlash Editor’s Commentaries:
Trump Intentionally Let the Coronavirus "Wash Over" America, a Failure by Design
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