As MSNBC's Joy Reid and media critic Eric Boehlert discussed Sunday morning, Trump's propaganda network is finally being forced to deal with the reality of this pandemic following weeks of lying to their viewers. We're watching them slowly have to pivot as real world events have overtaken their lie that all of this is just a "hoax" by Democrats and the media intended to make Dear Leader look bad.
Here's just one example of the "pivot" we're going to see over on Trump TV, with Media Buzz host Howard Kurtz and his guests discussing the fact that Tom Hanks performed a "public service" by coming forward with his coronavirus diagnosis and forcing a dose of reality on the people that Fox has been helping to deceive. No mention of course of the part Trump, his family, his administration, and Kurtz's fellow Fox hosts have played in spreading those dangerous lies.
KURTZ: I think we all need to rise to the occasion and in many cases that's not happening whether you're on the political side or the media side. As you both have said, there has been some good solid journalism.
A cultural note here. It was actually in that same hour Wednesday when we found out the NBA was suspending its season, the president gave the speech and we learned that Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson, he's filming a movie in Australia, have contracted the coronavirus, and are in quarantine.
This is Mr. Rogers. This is such a nice guy by all accounts. I've met him, seemed like a nice guy. And is he now kind of, Buck... there's a picture of them. Is he now kind of the face of the crisis, because most of the victims aren't very well known?
SEXTON: Yes. It brought it home for people in a way that nothing else really had quite yet. It was a couple of things all in the same night. The president announcing the travel ban from Europe, the Tom Hanks story breaking right within minutes it felt, at least that's when I saw it and also then also NBA cancellation.
The NBA player, that happened, Tom Hanks all of a sudden. When you see somebody who is a globally famous actor who comes down with this has to quarantine, it makes everybody realize that this can happen to anyone, which is important, because there are people that I think walk around still thinking I'm young and healthy, or I'm not near outbreak zone.
The truth is no one really knows where all the outbreak zones are. So Tom Hanks has done a real public service here in the sense that coming public with his diagnosis makes everyone realize this is for real.
As News Hounds' Richard noted on Twitter:
People who don't watch Fox News opinion shows already knew the Coronavirus was "for real". https://t.co/XUwwip4sN0
— Richard W. (@IceManNYR) March 15, 2020
