Surprise: The Mask-Shamers in White House Press Corps Turn Out to Be Hypocrites
Reporters have focused like laser-beams on the Trump administration’s mask-wearing habits. Turns out some of those same reporters don’t practice what they preach.
Believe it or not, daily mask-wearing reports have become an actual thing among some reporters in the White House press corps.
Without fail, one or more of them will either send a tweet, make a comment during a live segment, or write actual stories on whether or not White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany wore a mask at the daily press briefings, or whether or not President Trump, Vice President Pence, or other members of the Wuhan Coronavirus task force are wearing them.
CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins (seen pictured above) has been one of the reporters who often fills everybody in on the mask-wearing habits of Trump administration officials as if the millions of unemployed Americans struggling to make ends meet really care whether they are or not. Here are a few examples:
Bill Barr says on Fox News he's still going into work most days but wears a mask, as does his security detail. He checks his temperature & has been tested for Covid-19 when he meets with POTUS. When his staff meets in person, they space out but mostly do teleconferences.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 9, 2020
At vaccine event in the Rose Garden, POTUS is joined by several officials on stage. Some, like Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci are in masks. Others, like Defense Secretary Esper and HHS Secretary Azar, aren’t.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 15, 2020
At that same Rose Garden presser Friday, it was Collins who asked Trump about why some administration officials present for the briefing were wearing masks but others weren’t:
“Mr. President, can you just clarify why are some of you wearing a mask and why are some of you not wearing a mask?” Collins questioned, prompting the president to reply, “We’ve all been tested. I’ve been tested.”
“We’ve all been tested and we are quite a distance away and we are outdoors, so I told them, I gave them the option, they could wear it or not,” he explained. “So you can blame it on me, but I gave them the option. We could wear it or not.”
Given how often she reports on and asks about mask-wearing, you’d think Collins herself was stringent in the practice. But during the daily press briefing Friday with McEnany, Collins was caught breaking the rules.
As McEnany left the podium, Collins (in the pink blazer in the front row) got up and immediately pulled her mask off. She then walked around and appeared not to social distance around others who were wearing them:
The mask is for show? https://t.co/XnRLiEJ1L5
— Power Tie (@realPowerTie) May 15, 2020
White House Correspondents’ Association president Jon Karl of ABC News also thought he’d get into the mask-shaming act last week. Here’s what Karl posted about Fox News’s John Roberts during another Rose Garden press briefing earlier in the week (the photo of the man without a mask is Roberts):
Almost everybody in the Rose Garden is wearing a mask — almost everybody. pic.twitter.com/JBnEV05HOd
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) May 11, 2020
CNN senior media correspondent Oliver Darcy, who is a frequent critic of Fox News, retweeted Karl’s photos.
It didn’t take long, however, for photos to surface of Karl … not practicing what he preaches:
You didn’t wear a mask on Cinco de Mayo to pick up your tacos from Mi Vida. Why not? Is there a different standard for the media? Are there some places we have to wear masks and others we don’t? pic.twitter.com/nA8L69TsEj
— Luke Mahoney (@LukeRMahoney) May 11, 2020
Roberts fired back at Karl a short time later, providing the details that Karl conveniently left out:
Facts – I was quietly seated more than 6' away from the closest person (adhering to CDC social distancing guidelines)
-When the press conference began, I put mask on.
So – what, exactly is the basis for this petty effort at shaming???? https://t.co/ctW4knjkyD— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) May 11, 2020
The next day, Karl stated that his tweet “left the wrong impression” and that he wanted to correct the record, although he did not state what the “right interpretation” of his original tweet should have been:
Yesterday I tweeted photos of the extraordinary scene in the Rose Garden. The photo of @johnrobertsfox left the wrong impression. He is a good reporter who cares about protecting his colleagues and his family. He was practicing social distancing. I did not mean to imply otherwise
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) May 12, 2020
But Roberts was not going to let him off the hook so easy. The same day, Roberts tweeted out a photo of himself in a mask and noted the circumstances around it:
And just for the record, this is me prior to going out to the Rose Garden yesterday. I wore the mask out to the Garden, then took it off for my live shot with Cavuto, then a few minutes later, put it back on. pic.twitter.com/QZeJHxaTpI
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) May 12, 2020
And on Saturday, Roberts took a subtle dig at Karl by posting a photo of himself wearing a mask while on the phone outside the same restaurant Karl was photographed at not wearing a mask a week or so earlier:
Picking up a takeout order from Mi Vida at @TheWharfDC pic.twitter.com/8s25H3skc6
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) May 16, 2020
A week earlier, CNN’s Jim Acosta tried his hand at mask-shaming, too. Unfortunately for him, he was also exposed for not practicing what he preaches:
https://twitter.com/RealSmitherson/status/1257821178787434497
If all of this sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is.
I feel confident in saying there is not a single person in this country who has not already made their own determinations as to whether or not to wear a mask when they go out in public. They are not watching press briefings to find out if that’s what they should do, they’re not paying attention to whether or not Trump, Pence, McEnany, or anyone else happens to be wearing a mask when they’re on live TV.
And yet reporters like Collins, Karl, and Acosta seem to think shaming people on the issue, whether it’s Trump officials or their own colleagues, is something people actually care about and or focused on. They don’t and they aren’t.
Perhaps the exposure of these three hypocritical journalists will stop them and the rest of the press corp from providing minute-by-minute updates on the mask situation at the White House with an analysis of What It All Means, but I doubt it.
Why? Because the White House press corps are a lot like Democrats. If they didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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Comments
Cover your eyes.
Especially since Barack Obama never wears a protective N 95 face mask or any other sort.
Obama Trashes Trump To (the only gig he can get)
HIGH SCHOOL Students:
“Why Things Are So Screwed Up”
https://www.weaselzippers.us/448970-obama-trashes-trump-to-graduates-why-things-are-so-screwed-up/
Hey Barrack get out of those boys’ Underroos!
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-obama-as-superhero-image7015520
Obama in Underroos…….
obama wears a diaper. It’s been on him and changed daily by the democrat media since 2008.
Despite all the changing and wiping, it’s finally stared to stink to high hell.
You can smell him from 2000 miles away.
⭐⭐⭐ Registered Nurse Warns Against Wearing Masks
https://disq.us/url?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FOxJMzTz14pE%3AKzw17EbjrAjI4D8NSSnVjOC1lkE&cuid=1597781
Mask-shaming is everywhere. On local social media (places like Nextdoor, for example), businesses are being called out if their employees aren’t all wearing masks, individuals themselves are being called selfish and uncaring if they decide not to wear masks in public, and I can testify that if I’ve stepped out in public without a mask I’ve gotten some dirty looks.
The shamers just change the focus of the shaming every couple weeks.
Why American Life Went On As Normal During The Killer Pandemic Of 1969
They virtually did nothing, although 100,000 died.
https://www.weaselzippers.us/448947-why-american-life-went-on-as-normal-during-the-killer-pandemic-of-1969/
Our media wasn’t completely corrupted and run by treasonous scum.
Send all the Karens to Wuhan.
NSFW-Language. It’s Paul Joseph Watson.
https://youtu.be/aR3uA2eLgbk
In this video, cool cars and Karens get what’s coming to them (spoiler alert – they were arrested).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCrjvtTzX-E
I am not surprised nor should anyone else be surprised.
A legitimate story for the MSM would be to take a closer look at the covid death numbers vs seasonal flu death numbers.
Real clear politics site is the source.
A brief look and I counted 19 States + DC that have as of today reported covid deaths in excess of their seasonal flu death. The seasonal flu deaths are the average for last ten years of reported data.
An additional six states will likely go over that Mark this week. Only a very few states have covid deaths totals that are more than twice the seasonal flu deaths.
The states with the lowest numbers of covid deaths, not as a percentage but total number are as one would expect: HI, Wyoming etc. States which are geographically remote.
States which have internal geographic features that make some areas of the State geographically isolated; mountains, hill country, desert seem to also perform better.
However, even states which possess those geographic features are experiencing high levels of covid death relative to seasonal flu death when they are near major population centers. Think NYC and Vermont.
Teasing out all the data based upon more than local death rates is going to be critical to adapting pubic health policy. Especially when we now have solid evidence from Colorado that the States previous covid death numbers were critically flawed.
That coupled with the NYT article listing the destination of NYC residents who had mail forwarded some 83K which is twice the normal monthly total shows that we may have to consider a Federal no travel order.
Again I don’t want to see that. However, since the NYC diaspora destinations seem to have a higher covid death rate vs seasonal flu death rate than we would expect, maybe we should run the data points down to eliminate the need for such a step.
The states are going to have to come clean on their numbers though before we can use any it. Bad input data is worthless. Garbage in = garbage out.
Yah I’d look for a better data source than that…only like 4 states with higher covid death tolls than flu/pneumonia season…NY being by far the worst…others are pretty close most are dramatically lower
The only problem with that comparison now is the growing anecdotal evidence that Wu-Flu was here before year’s end. Whereas right now many deaths are being attributed to Wuhan’s gift that keeps on giving, late last year many ‘odd flu-like symptoms’ were being attributed to seasonal influenza- when, in fact, flu swabs were frequently coming back Negative. To attempt a case volume comparison between Flu & Wu-Flu now is nearly impossible given the discrepancies.
i have not seen any reliable data comparing the wuflu and regular flu on the age breakdowns of the fatal cases. Fatal cases are the only cases that matter to me,some people just getting very sick is nothing new.
rocky71,
Absolutely, it will be difficult, if not impossible get 100% accuracy from say late October.
I do believe that if the States will come clean and revise their covid count like Colorado did, and start releasing the data in a more reasonable format we could at least be better informed. Maybe we could still draw inferences that would be reliable.
Better format of reporting for usable data:
Nursing home/assited living/home health aided
Age
No co-morbidity conditions present
One co-morbidity condition present
Multiple co-morbidity conditions present
Duration of hospitalization
What treatment regimen
Placed on ventilator
Was not on a ventilator
Working, no self isolation
Not working, self isolation
Member of household working, no isolation
Travel from a hotspot
Member of household travel from hotspot
Obviously States have some of this data. The public health system should be finding out these and other questions/factors I didn’t think of.
More importantly, the States have to go back through their reported covid deaths and eliminate the obviously falsely attributed covid deaths from their count. Just like Colorado did. Colorado adjusted their count by over 850, which cut their count down by nearly half.
Since that dramatic example is public, I don’t see how other States can avoid the same. Especially since some of the proposed additional federal funds have a formula that provides incentives for padding the count.
It would be regrettable if certain Governor’s were to claim a higher count to fraudulently bill the federal government. I can’t imagine that after the very public trashing of the federal government by some Governors that the administration would be unwilling to undertake a review of the data.
Another fly in the ointment: Is anyone keeping records on the traditional flu this year? How many reported cases and how many deaths, and how do they compare with the Wuhan version?
My guess is that traditional flu is way down. Why? Because there is a financial incentive to classify every sneeze and sniffle as Wuhan virus. From about November 2019 going forward are suspect.
What would the news broadcasts look like in past years if the traditional flu numbers were reported as the Wuhan ones are this year?
To help you with perspective on all this: The US population is 330 million (in round numbers); 1% of that is 3.3 million. And just north of 2 million people in the US die each year, from all causes.
amateurwrangler,
Your point is well taken. The 2019 forth quarter and 2020 flu deaths will have to be adjusted, maybe inferred. How, take a normal April death count by category. Look at covid overlay for April 2020. Then look for decreases by category like flu, pneumonia etc. Now look at covid count. Does the covid count match or get close to the total of the decreases? At the macro level without looking at the death certificate we can infer that maybe the covid numbers are incorrect, perhaps intentionally and fraudulently.
Again once the rest of the States are ultimately forced to review and modify their covid count, like Colorado, we will have a much better handle on what occurred. I don’t blame the states/counties for errors initially in a hotspot. However, for any state/county to not anticipate that they will be forced to review and revise their numbers when they are past the crisis point is laughable. Especially when federal funding is attached that provides an incentive to pad the count.
Excuse me, but
“Duh!”
Psychopaths like “teh” Media are always hypocrites.
“hypocrites” my ass.
If only they were hypocrites. They’re corrupt propagandists.
For them to be hypocrites, they’d have to admit to a position. If they admitted to a position, they wouldn’t be “reporters”.
If only they were hypocrites. They’re corrupt propagandists.
And as it’s turning out, Communist China has its hands up their asses, like so many puppets. Just as ChiCom Dianne Feinstein.
The epidemic of treason in our nation can only be overcome by DRASTIC action by our citizens.
Wifey made masks this weekend, using the templates and following the videos at this site: http://www.fabricpatch.net/face-masks-for-covid-19-relief.htm
Very comfy and fit better than the paper / N95 ones. Lovely PNW mountain-man looking green-treed fabric. To complete my slasher-movie look, all I need now is a gas-powered chainsaw. The Black & Decker electric just isn’t menacing enough!
I may be able to help. I have a small McCullough. Are you requiring that it run?
It’s mostly for intimidation and vigilante mask enforcement.
Two weekends ago I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of a local supermarket, waiting for a lady friend to finish her shopping. A car pulled into the space next to mine. The young, male driver took a moment to put on a face mask before getting. I had to suppress the urge to get out of my vehicle and hold him at gun point! Took me a moment to realize he wasn’t there to rob the place.
Mc Enany should start the next one with a mask on, start mumbling noise that the press corps can’t understand and keep it up for a minute or two then leave the podium
Sorry, didn’t mean to plagiarize! You beat me to it!
I have no problem with government encouraging the use of face masks, promoting people making their own with colorful patterns, providing face masks for use in certain governmental areas, etc…
Where I have a serious problem is when the giant foot of government comes down and threatens to put me in jail for not wearing one.
Encourage, yes.
Make it a criminal act, hell no.
(FYI: I made one of my own out of some kid-patterned cloth, so I get some strange looks and at least one question of “Is that Applejack?” Yes, it is. Made with my own ten thumbs and the wife’s sewing machine.)
If these propagandists were REAL reporters, they would do a report on the ineffectiveness of wearing these masks.
The virus is very small. Even the masks which medical personnel wear do not filter out particles as small as the virus is. It is virtue signaling.
I wear a mask in establishments that ask me to, mainly because I respect their wishes in their place. I work with people throughout this lock down, most I work with do not use masks, some do. When I am with those who wear them, I will wear it as a sign of respect for them.
I suspect that the President knows the masks is a bit of a sham. Sure, it might help a little in containing wider spread from someone who has the virus. But most people I see have their noses uncovered, or loose fitting masks. It is a grand placebo move. Little more.
LIKE A MUZZLE ON A DOG, IT IS A SIGN OF CONTROL.
I believe the actual purpose of government insistence (either requirement or encouragement) on mask wearing is to give people a sense of control over the situation and a feeling of security. They know it’s hokum, but they’re pushing it to keep people from staying locked in their homes 100% of the time, something they know is not healthy. The economy has really tanked, imagine how bad it would be if the lock down was 100% effective.
As a friend of mine said, “If you can smell a fart through it, it’s not going to keep out a virus.”
I have seen a bunch of people wearing masks with a valve.. it looks like a raised circle, sometimes a square in front, often on both sides. That valve filters air coming in, and lets it all out, when exhaling… Think about it.. The intake filter is little better that a dust filter, unless the mask is rated at that N95 level. So dust is filtered going in, and basically nothing is filtered going out? It makes no sense at all. A bandana is just as useful.
To each their own… but not me.. not my husband..
random pic of mask with valve..SMH I see the all over.
https://img-cdn.herbeauty.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Celebs-Wearing-Face-Masks-Cover.jpg
Yeah, I have some N-95 masks with valves. Since my state finally got around to mandating masks for everyone and since I do respect private property rights, if a store requires it, I’ll put it on. Dumb people see them and think.. wow, she sure does care about us! Informed people see the mask and snicker knowing that while it may offer me protection, it doesn’t protect anyone around me any more than a cloth bandanna. That’s kind of the point.
I refuse to be shamed by people who have none themselves.
Wearing a mask=virtual signaling
Except in those dictatorships that mandate their wearing when out ‘”in public” in which case in which case the situation becomes No Mask, No Admittance of actually attempting to accomplish something during this infernal mess rather than sitting home as if on an extended vacation.
I wear a mask every time I read about Acosta . . .
. . . because I tend to throw up a little.
He’s a vile person.
It’s my understanding that medical staff who are wearing the PPE have a very specific way of putting on & taking off their equipment. Otherwise, you run the risk of contamination.
So, if you are healthy and wearing a mask and someone walks by you and coughs, the germs are on the outside of your mask, right? So, how many people are careful about taking off the mask, disposing of it safely, and then washing hands after handling the mask? Do people leave their handmade masks outside in the sun for some decontamination before washing them?
It’s all for show. A security blanket for the Corona Karens, as well as a marker for identifying who’s compliant and who’s a “troublemaker” for the tyrants.
I had Corona and I am now negative. Why do I have to wear a mask?
What obnoxious smugnoramuses.
THeir credbility: zero.
Media Knew How Obama Was Conducting Political Surveillance…
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/05/17/matt-taibbi-calls-out-liberal-media-for-pretending-not-to-know-how-obama-was-conducting-political-surveillance/
Working in the supermarket industry and not wearing masks or having ANY social distancing or plexiglass at the cashier stands, when throngs of people swept through the doors I wore nothing. Now, the company requires us to wear masks. All day for eight hours a day. Not an easy thing to do. So when I punch out I’m not wearing one anywhere. The masks do nothing but give a sense of security to insecure people.
All Karens. All the time.
Oh, for bog’s sake.
For those of us not doing bad, fake Kabuki the facts are roughly these:
– “Respirator” masks mostly protect the breather; mostly.
– Surgical masks mostly protect the breathed on; mostly.
– Improvised do either or both less well.
– Handling matters for exposure u get or don’t.
Good working assumptions are:
– Innoculation dose matters.
– Immune system strength at time of infection matters.
– Clearing opportunities matter.
Don’t breathe other people’s air, get some sun n exercise, n quit picking yr nose.
Also, real Kabuki masks are art, and glorious. This B S is, well, not art.
Was with you up until “quit picking yr nose.” That’s a bridge too far! I will NOT comply!
New rule:
Admin folk wrar Vader masks for all press contacts from now on. Complete with sound effects.
McEnany should show up at a presser and answer every question with “Mmmmpffff, mmp, ffpppmmff, mmmm, ffmffppp.”