White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany called out on Friday the media’s double standard in how it has covered left-wing protests in recent weeks versus how it has covered President Donald Trump’s upcoming rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“One thing I would note, and I think it’s just very important especially as we go into the weekend and we begin to look at some of the news coverage out there, is that I would encourage all of you to cover the protests in the same way that you cover the rallygoers,” McEnany said. “It’s really quite something when you look at this extraordinary video by Media Research Center and Newsbusters where you have multiple hosts on MSNBC, CNN, and CBS boasting about the ‘massive crowd, I mean massive, tens of thousands of people, thousands and thousands, up to 200,000 people,’ they exuberantly exclaim, but then they have grave concerns about the size of the Trump rallies.”
“You have MSNBC contributors saying social justice over social distancing, but when the president looks to celebrate the accomplishments for minority communities in this country, our rallies are derided as breeding grounds for coronavirus while Lawrence O’Donnell celebrates arm-in-arm protests. So, I really think that we should have internal consistency here in the way we cover large crowds,” McEnany continued. “We should be guided by science not cherry-picking science, as I see all too often on the airwaves, especially from CNN.”
WATCH:
.@PressSec Calls out the Mainstream Media's inconsistent coverage of protests vs. Trump rallies. pic.twitter.com/404prKMJUS
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 19, 2020
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TRANSCRIPT:
REPORTER #1: Thank you Kayleigh. Given that the campaign had attendees of the rally on Saturday sign a waiver to indemnify the campaign if they should get sick with the coronavirus, would the president consider starting or contributing to a fund for the sick or the bereaved if we see a spike in cases come out of the rally Saturday night?
WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY KAYLEIGH MCENANY: I think that’s a hypothetical and that’s a speculative question. Yes.
REPORTER #2: Thank you, Kayleigh. Looking towards the election, we know that the Biden campaign is pushing back on adding any additional debates to the schedule. How many debates would the president be willing to participate in?
MCENANY: Yeah, so the president talked about this yesterday. The president is happy to debate when given the opportunity. Right now there are three debates and he’s happy with that, but certainly if others were proposed he’d be willing to look at them and he very much looks forward to those debates. One thing I would note, and I think it’s just very important especially as we go into the weekend and we begin to look at some of the news coverage out there, is that I would encourage all of you to cover the protests in the same way that you cover the rallygoers. It’s really quite something when you look at this extraordinary video by Media Research Center and Newsbusters where you have multiple hosts on MSNBC, CNN, and CBS boasting about the “massive crowd, I mean massive, tens of thousands of people, thousands and thousands, up to 200,000 people,” they exuberantly exclaim but then they have grave concerns about the size of the Trump rallies.
You have MSNBC contributors saying social justice over social distancing, but when the president looks to celebrate the accomplishments for minority communities in this country, our rallies are derided as breeding grounds for coronavirus while Lawrence O’Donnell celebrates arm-in-arm protests. So, I really think that we should have internal consistency here in the way we cover large crowds. We should be guided by science, not cherry-picking science, as I see all too often on the airwaves, especially from CNN.