Kings and Queens of catastrophe: Everything is a disaster for the left
Steve Hilton says the facts don't matter to the left and they need catastrophes for their twin obsessions of growing government and hating Trump.
The kings and queens of catastrophe. For the left these days, everything is a disaster.
Rachel Maddow, MSNBC host: All of the alarms have sounded.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.: It would be catastrophic.
Former Rep. Jane Harmon, D-Calif: I think that would be a catastrophe.
Aaron David Miller, CNN global affairs analyst: There's almost no souls in Washington who believe that this is anything other than a complete and utter catastrophe. Some people are predicting the apocalypse.
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"The apocalypse!" This week, of course, it was the coronavirus.
Jim Sciutto, CNN anchor: The coronavirus is spreading and the number is just stunning at this point.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Lives are at stake.
Chris Hayes, MSNBC host: It could be truly catastrophic.
But this is what they always do. A few months ago, it was a looming economic catastrophe. And they were like this over climate change.
Mike Bloomberg, 2020 presidential candidate and former New York City mayor: Number one, the biggest problem facing the world is climate change because it can kill us all.
John Kerry, former U.S. Secretary of State: Climate change will affect everything that we do in our nation.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.: The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change.
On the Soleimani strike, they said it was the start of World War III.
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Chris Hayes: We are suddenly at an extremely perilous moment following one reckless act by the American President.
Leon Panetta, former CIA director: The chances for war are more serious now than they have been in the last 40 years.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.: Here we are today, closer to war with Iran than we've ever been.
When it's not the health, economic, environmental, or security catastrophe. It's a catastrophe of democracy.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.: We're not going to let him just, you know, torch this democracy.
Maddow: This is something to save our country that must be stopped.
Pelosi: His assault on the rule of law.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.: We have a president who doesn't believe in the rule of law. He doesn't believe in freedom of the press.
But it's all just an illusion. The recession they talked about never came. In fact, the economy got even stronger with the last jobs report exceeding expectations, earnings continuing to grow and consumer confidence remaining high.
The facts and the science doesn't matter to the kings and queens of catastrophe. They need catastrophe for their twin obsessions - growing the government and hating Trump.
On climate change, our emissions are actually going down, not up. In fact, last year, America had the biggest reduction of any country in the world. Globally, deaths and economic losses from natural disasters are five times lower than in 1980. Not to mention the fact that the Earth is actually becoming greener as we speak.
That armageddon they predicted after President Trump took out one of the world's most dangerous terrorists -- we're still waiting.
The collapse of the rule of law here at home, tell that to Trump, who is constantly being thwarted and frustrated by the Congress and courts on everything, from executive power to pardons to immigration policy. I think you'll find that checks and balances are working pretty well -- too well to some people's liking.
As for Trump, curtailing the freedom of the press -- my God, can anyone think of a president who faced a more hostile media than this one? After their endless predictions of imminent disaster on every subject, forgive us if we don't take the Democrats and their allies on ruling class state TV seriously with their latest catastrophizing on coronavirus.
Of course, it's serious, and we should take sensible precautions. And while they were busy impeaching him, that's exactly what President Trump was doing, closing the border to high-risk visitors and getting going on a vaccine.
The facts are always a let-down for the kings and queens of catastrophe.
The president announced more travel restrictions on Saturday, and that's great. But he should go even further.
Before anyone screams that's racist and extreme, check out this column from The New York Times epidemic expert Donald McNeil. He was literally the person that Rachel Maddow put on her show this past week as her voice of reason. He backs tough travel restrictions writing, "Harsh measures horrify civil libertarians, but they often save lives, especially when they are imposed in the early days."
Here are three other practical steps: Make sure Americans don't get charged for coronavirus testing. Make sure people get paid sick leave so there's no economic incentive to come to work and spread germs. And just to stop the Trump haters from bleating about politicization, have a daily press briefing from the medical expert.
Speaking of which -- listen to Dr. Anthony Fauci they chorused. Don't muzzle Dr. Fauci. First of all, he's not been muzzled, as he himself said. But the big point is this: Yes, let's listen to Dr. Fauci. And what did he say yesterday? The highest coronavirus risk is for people with heart disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, and obesity. Every single one of those things is preventable.
But instead of trying to prevent them, we actively encourage them. For example, on heart disease and obesity, with totally corrupt members of Congress in both parties, totally corrupt state legislators in both parties are doing the bidding of Big Food and Big Agriculture by subsidizing food that kills us and penalizing food that's good for us. But as usual, the idiot media and the idiot politicians chase superficial nonsense instead of addressing the underlying issue.
So let's get things in proportion. Over 10 million Americans got the flu over the past year. How many have caught this variant of flu in America? So far, it's four.
But the facts and the science doesn't matter to the kings and queens of catastrophe. They need catastrophe for their twin obsessions - growing the government and hating Trump.
Pelosi: He puts forth a proposal now that is meager, anemic in terms of addressing this. With Ebola, we did $5 billion. Now, they're trying to take the Ebola money and spend it here. So what he's doing is late, too late.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.: Four words describe the administration's response to the coronavirus: towering and dangerous incompetence.
"Towering and dangerous incompetence." He loves those four words. He actually said it five times in 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the media keep comparing coronavirus to Ebola.
Maddow: Is there somebody who is in charge of coronavirus response for the whole U.S. government the way that President Obama put somebody in charge of the Ebola response?
Ron Klain, former White House Ebola coordinator: So the first month, I was White House Ebola response coordinator. I did no press interviews. I was in there every day, 18 hours a day.
Congratulations, Ron. But for goodness sake, the Ebola comparisons are ridiculous.
According to China's CDC, the coronavirus death rate in China is 0.9 percent for healthy adults; the death rate for Ebola was 90 percent, a hundred times worse.
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While the Trump administration is taking sensible steps based on science, the 2020 Democrats are pushing stupid stunts based on political prejudice and dogma. Elizabeth Warren wants to take money from border security -- because obviously opening our borders is a brilliant way to fight the disease spreading across countries.
What we've seen this week is the media and the politicians' unhealthy addiction to drama and hype. Listen to what an actual health official said.
Dr. Sonia Y. Angell, California Department of Public Health Director and State Health Officer: Coronaviruses are responsible for the common cold, so it's something that all of you may also be quite familiar with.
The cause of the current outbreak that originated in China is a new member of this family. Our experience to date, though, is that most people, more than 85 percent, will have mild or no symptoms.
Most people will have mild or no symptoms.
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In the end, the facts are always a let-down for the kings and queens of catastrophe. Coronavirus - properly managed; the environment getting better; the economy getting stronger. And as we saw just this past week with President Trump's triumphant visit to India -- remember that? -- America is more respected around the world.
Let's fight back against the kings and queens of catastrophe.
Adapted from Steve Hilton's monologue from "The Next Revolution" on March 1, 2020.