CNN’s Jim Acosta said Americans will interpret President Trump’s acknowledgment of the coronavirus’ origins Wednesday evening as “smacking of xenophobia.”
The network’s chief White House correspondent told colleague Chris Cuomo that he would be “asking questions” as to why a nationally televised address referred to the virus, which originated in China’s Wuhan province, as a “foreign” virus.
“Stephen Miller, who is an immigration hard-liner who advises the president, is one of his top domestic policy advisers and speechwriters, was a driving force in writing this speech,” Mr. Acosta said. “And I think it’s going to smack, it’s going to come across to a lot of Americans as smacking of xenophobia to use that kind of term in this speech, Chris.”
“Well, look. Sometimes we can answer the questions and the answer is he’s doing it to put blame somewhere else,” Mr. Cuomo replied.
At issue is the opening of Mr. Trump’s remarks to Americans, which began as follows:
“My fellow Americans, tonight I want to speak with you about our nation’s unprecedented response to the coronavirus outbreak that started in China and is now spreading throughout the world. Today the World Health Organization officially announced that this is a global pandemic. We have been in frequent contact with our allies and we are marshaling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people.
This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history. I’m confident that by counting and continuing to take these tough measures we will significantly reduce the threat to our citizens and we’ll ultimately and expeditiously defeat this virus.”
The president then outlined the steps his administration would take to safeguard the nation.
Mr. Acosta’s commentary came less than 48 hours after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told listeners to his new podcast that members of the media become “self-parodying” when they attempt to word-police discussions on the virus’ origins.
“There are times when the media becomes self-parodying,” Mr. Cruz said Tuesday during a broadcast of his “The Verdict” podcast. “[Fretting over Wuhan references is] a great example of it. One of the reasons that this virus spread so rapidly and has been so difficult to contain is that early on the communist government in China did not want to be public about it. So, they held quiet. They suppressed information. Look, we know that the communist government of China has a long history of lying, that they’re not to be trusted to begin with. So, the stats I gave you of 80,000 confirmed cases of the virus and deaths in China — over 3,000 deaths in China — that’s based on what the communist government is telling us. Those numbers could be much, much worse.”
John Sexton of the conservative blog Hotair responded to Mr. Acosta’s coverage Thursday by noting the absence of context. Chinese propaganda has suggested the virus can be traced back to the U.S.
“The president appeared to be taking a firm stance against an ongoing Chinese propaganda effort to suggest the origin of the virus is either a) unknown or b) the United States. Instead, he told CNN viewers the president’s statement of the facts was xenophobic,” Mr. Sexton wrote.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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