OPINION:
The Democrats, they do love their crises. And with coronavirus, it’s a match made in heaven: Democrats get a bogeyman with long-lasting legs to press everything from anti-President Donald Trump rhetoric to, unbelievably enough, climate change.
Fact is, if Democrats cared so much about the spread of the virus, they’d be on board with shutting borders, and shutting borders but quick.
Instead, they’re focused on calling out the Chinese or Wuhan coronavirus as a racist label, and painting anyone who dares call the coronavirus by its apt, factually-based Chinese tag as racist.
“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve seen not only the spreading of the virus but also a rapid spreading of racism and xenophobia,” said Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Ayanna Pressley, in remarks delivered during a House hearing. “This painful rhetoric has consequences. Restaurants across Boston’s Chinatown have seen up to an 80 percent drop in business and I believe this has everything to do with the rapid spread of misinformation and paranoia.”
That was after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram Live called it “straight up racism” for people to avoid “patroning” — that is, patronizing — her district’s Chinese restaurants, out of fears of coronavirus.
And that was right around the time Joe Biden, from the campaign trail, slammed Trump as a racist for calling the Wuhan virus a “foreign virus” that originated in China — even though it did originate in China. In the Wuhan district of China, in fact. Thus the name: Wuhan coronavirus.
From Biden: “Downplaying [this pandemic], being overly dismissive, or spreading misinformation is only going to hurt us … but neither should we panic or fall back on xenophobia. Labeling COVID-19 a foreign virus does not displace accountability for the misjudgments that have been taken thus far by the Trump administration.”
Well, one can dicker over this administration’s response to coronavirus as one wishes. But what one can’t dicker over is the obvious — that labeling a “foreign virus” a “foreign virus” when it is indeed a virus that originated at a foreign spot seems a crucial step for the medical world’s investigations into the source, spread and containment process. It gives a starting point for tracking. And with coronavirus, the starting point is, drumroll please, the Wuhan district. In China. In the foreign country of China.
The only ones denying that are the Chinese.
Even The Washington Post admitted as much and in a story teaser on Google, wrote: “Since the coronavirus outbreak began in China …” Click on the story, entitled “Mapping the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. and worldwide,” and that particular phrase is missing, no doubt because of the recent liberal panic to hide all traces of their own recent acknowledgements of truths they’re now trying to paint as racist and xenophobic.
But read further and there’s this interesting bit: “A majority of cases and deaths occurred in China, mostly in the Hubei province, where Chinese health officials said the new virus strain originated in wild animals sold at a market in the capital city of Wuhan.”
Why is that so interesting? Because now the Chinese propaganda machine is in full swing, denying that the coronavirus originated in China.
Meanwhile, back on the liberal farm, Democrats are having a field day with Rahm Emanuel’s famous saying, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” On that, the coronavirus is proving pure gold.
“Universal health care is a must,” Bernie Sanders wrote, in a USA Today opinion piece about the White House’s response to coronavirus.
We need to rejoin the Paris climate change treaty and “prepare for future global health threats,” Biden said, in his just-released plan to combat coronavirus.
Really?
Here’s a thought to help control the spread of coronavirus — as well as any other type of virus or disease that may come creeping into America in the future: Tighten borders. Test border crossers for diseases. Quarantine those who test positive — or send ’em back from where they came.
“328 Chinese nationals caught entering US illegally,” one headline ran a few days ago.
“328 Chinese Nationals Caught Trying To Illegally Enter U.S.,” another ran, also a few days ago.
“DHS officials fear illegal border crossings may spread coronavirus,” ran yet one more, in the same time frame.
You think?
The natural, logical response to a foreign virus is to tighten borders and control who enters.
But for Democrats — it’s to toss race cards and sign a treaty on climate change.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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