Politics has been really decisive in the past few years. Ever since Trump became President, politicians have attacked the media a lot. Marco Rubio tried to do the same, but it backfired. He was trying to criticize the media for bad journalism over Coronavirus coverage. However, it backfired as a reporter that was affected by the COVID-19 criticized him. Not only that but Debra Messing rallied support against Marco Rubio.
What did Marco Rubio say?
The Republican Senator from Florida went on Twitter and called out the media for its bias against the US. He said how the media is taking “glee and delight” in reporting that the US has more COVID-19 patients than China. Moreover, he goes on to say how it’s bad journalism and adds that China is hiding the true number of patients.
Here’s Marco Rubio’s tweet:
Some in our media can’t contain their glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more #CoronaVirus cases than #China
Beyond being grotesque,its bad journalism
We have NO IDEA how many cases China really has but without any doubt its significantly more than why they admit to
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 29, 2020
As expected, this tweet did not get a lot of appreciation. And then, he got called out!
Debra Messing joins hands with a Coronavirus victim
This tweet was particularly offensive for all those affected by the disease. One of them was Zerlina Maxwell, who’s a political analyst at MSNBC. She was begging Florida to elect someone other than Marco Rubio. And, she also mentioned how one of her cousins died because of Coronavirus, emphasizing how severe the issue really is. Here’s her tweet:
One of my cousins died this weekend. Please elect someone else Florida. Please. https://t.co/K8cNsXMFZz
— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) March 30, 2020
Soon after, she receives a comforting tweet from Debra Messing herself. In it, she expressed how sorry she was over her loss. Debra Messing is an astute Democrat and announced that she supports Joe Biden. Therefore, it’s not very surprising that she came out like this against Marco Rubio. Here’s her tweet:
https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/1244663414506618881
So, what was wrong with Rubio’s tweet?
Rubio was sending out the wrong message at the wrong time
Attacking the media is something very common in right-wing politics. Whenever politicians can’t deny facts, they simply criticize the media for ‘biased’ reporting. Trump is especially famous for such tactics, even during the Coronavirus pandemic. And now, Marco Rubio also follows his queue. This is why we believe his comments were uncalled for:
1. It’s a time to show leadership, not a blame game
This is a time when leaders have to step up to save their people. Instead of trying to shift the blame on the media, leaders must take ownership of the situation. That is what Andrew Cuomo is doing in New York, and getting a lot of praises as well. Instead of trying to teach the media basics of journalism, politicians should focus on their jobs! The people of the US really need a leader in these trying times when America has become a hub for Coronavirus.
2. It doesn’t matter if the media is biased
The numbers of COVID-19 patients in the United States are quite staggering. Even if the media is biased towards China, it doesn’t matter. This is because the media isn’t reporting the total number of Coronavirus cases wrong. It’s alarming, and Marco Rubio and his colleagues must do something about it.
The first priority of every politician like Marco Rubio should be to serve their own people first. Moreover, this isn’t the time to talk about media ethics and journalism. It’s important that the government focus all its resources, time, and manpower on more than 200,000 Americans in need of it. But instead, politicians like Rubio and Trump are busy in needless criticism.
