Is MSNBC, supposedly a mainstream news source, really allowing its hosts to push nutjob conspiracy theories? Because one host recently represented their opinion as fact.
Surprise, Surprise: MSNBC Pushes Anti-Trump Narrative
MSNBC host Chris Hayes tweeted a wild claim that White House coronavirus experts over-projected the number of potential deaths. And they did this, supposedly, so President Donald Trump could “take a victory lap” when the total was lower.
Hayes, the host of the weekday show MSNBC show “All In” and the weekly podcast “Why is This Happening?”, tweeted:
“The most cynical interpretation of all this, one I can’t quite bring myself to accept, is that they rolled out the model showing 100k deaths after they knew it would be less than that so they could anchor everyone to that # and take a victory lap when ‘only’ tens of thousands died.”
Beating Projections
Originally, COVID-19 task force members cautioned that the death toll could reach 250,000. However, more recently, experts now say that because of social distancing, those estimates are falling.
At a press conference, the President remarked that if the American coronavirus death toll remained “substantially under [100,000] – which was the original projection – I think we all did a very good job, even though that’s a lot of people.”
A Wide Range of Estimates
Early model projections ranged from the tens of thousands up to over two million.
These estimates were based on a multitude of scenarios. The highest death toll projections assumed no action was taken to contain the outbreak curve.
Meanwhile, Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explained that the actual numbers are lower because more Americans than expected are staying at home and practicing social distancing.
Hayes Gets Slammed
The Twitterverse quickly laid into the MSNBC host.
Editor-at-Large Andy Ngo of The Post Millennial tweeted in response, “Irresponsible”.
Likeise, Atlantic staff writer Conor Friedersdorf said, “Their former estimate wasn’t out of step with lots of experts at the time.”
One Twitter user sarcastically said, “If you watched the press briefings you would know that they said repeatedly their goal was significantly lower than those numbers. Dr. Fauci only said it a half dozen times.
Finally, Another user had the most accurate response, saying, “MSNBC hosts are the kings and queens of conspiracy theories.”
As of this writing, there have been 48,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States.