Facing mass media blame for a smattering of attacks on Asian Americans, President Donald Trump addressed the issue at the coronavirus task force daily briefing and on Twitter, but his call to "protect our Asian American community" only brought more criticism.
Trump tweeted:
"It is very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States, and all around the world. They are amazing people, and the spreading of the Virus...."
Continuing in an ensuing tweet:
"....is NOT their fault in any way, shape, or form. They are working closely with us to get rid of it. WE WILL PREVAIL TOGETHER!"
The tweets echoed the comments made at the very opening of Monday's daily press briefing, giving the issue priority before addressing the administration's plans to respond to the outbreak.
Some critics have suggested Trump's calling of the global pandemic the "Chinese virus" is the cause of Americans attacking those of Asian descent, and the some criticism on social media from the above tweets was directed at the "they are working closely with us."
As stated at the White House briefing, Trump did not intend to suggest Asian Americans are working to respond to the pandemic but the Chinese doctors who have helped the World Health Organization address the outbreaks and death in other areas of the globe, likely Italy and Europe.
"It seems there has been a little bit of nasty language toward Asian Americans in our country, and I don't like that at all," Trump told reporters later during the question and answer portion of the task force briefing. "These are incredible people, they love our country, and I'm not going to let it happen. So, I just want to make that point, because they're blaming China.
"People are blaming China and they are making statements to great American citizens that happen to be of Asian heritage, and I'm not going to let that happen."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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