The State Department went all out Friday, showing the world it is in lockstep with President Donald Trump regarding the importance of including the global coronavirus pandemic’s location of origin when referring to it.
According to public releases from the agency, it seems State has officially begun referring to the health emergency as the “Wuhan Corona Pandemic.”
The phrase first appeared in a readout of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo‘s Friday morning phone call with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi regarding continued partnership on matters of regional security and efforts to stop the virus from spreading further.
“Pompeo spoke with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi today, reinforcing the importance of the U.S.-Japan Alliance as the cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific,” the readout stated. “[They] discussed our two democracies’ shared response to the Wuhan Corona Pandemic and emphasized the need for transparency and accountability by all nations in the face of this international crisis.”
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Oh, you can almost hear members of the left-wing establishment media losing their minds over the subtle rhetorical stance.
The president and various members of his administration took fire last week from American establishment media personalities and Chinese Communist Party officials alike with habitual references to the coronavius as a “Chinese virus.”
Supposedly racist and xenophobic, despite the virus having originated more than two months ago in the Hubei province of China, reference to the virus as “Chinese” has received nearly round-the-clock attention from television news broadcasters and liberal commentators — many of whom claim the president is somehow attempting to scapegoat China in light of supposedly poor American response efforts.
Still, according to NBC News, the administration has refused to back down on using the term and those like it, with Trump directly defending it as fair and “accurate.”
Friday’s phone call readout was not the first time Pompeo and the State Department have seemed to remain strongly in Trump’s corner throughout the ongoing coronavirus-related media barrage.
"What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?"
President Trump: "I'd say you're a terrible reporter... The American people are looking for answers and they're looking for hope and you're doing sensationalism..."
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Pompeo smugly refuses to answer a question about his thoughts on Trump's attacks on reporters
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Pompeo had flanked Trump in a news conference early Friday morning, standing by as the president rebuked NBC News reporter, and longtime critic, Peter Alexander for focusing his questions on American fear regarding the virus.
Asked moments later whether Trump’s treatment of the question had been unproductive given the context of a national emergency like the one at hand, the secretary of state was unwilling to bite.
“Somebody else have a question?” he responded, moving on.
The play would earn Pompeo several hours trending on Twitter, and no shortage of rude social media remarks from left-wing reporters — nothing the no-nonsense former U.S. Army captain and CIA director couldn’t simply brush off.
If only members of the establishment media could brush off the beating they’ve taken these last four years, it might save them a bit of bitterness.
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