Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric about Covid 19 (“China virus” or, worse, “Kung Flu”) appears to have "legitimized”  a surge in hate crimes against Asian-Americans. But not so for top Trump supporter, Laura Ingraham, who brought in a Trump-supporting Asian-American to help run defense by blaming African-Americans.

Ingraham solemnly began the propaganda session by intoning that “there’s a new disease raging across the media landscape,” not a virus but “the third big lie.” (She didn’t tell us what the first two are) She referenced a New York Times article which, she claimed, blamed Trump for the murder of an elderly Thai man in San Francisco. To support her claim, she quoted a section of the Times article which reported that researchers and activists have linked these crimes to Trump who “repeatedly” uses the term “China virus” – a finding supported by analyses that show perpetrators of anti-Asian crimes use the same racist rhetoric as Trump’s.

Moving into full snark mode, Ingraham asserted that the left “picked up the smear” and “ran with it.” Video was shown of various Democratic politicians speaking about anti-Chinese racist rhetoric from “political leaders.”

Ingraham said she wanted to “start with the facts” (some irony there), that “there’s a crime wave against Asian-Americans.” She cited data, from the Times story, which seemed to “undercut that narrative” in saying that Asians were “less likely” to be crime victims. However, she ignored what followed: “But leaders of the Bay Area Asian community say crime statistics are misleading because Asian-American residents, especially immigrants, often do not report assaults or robberies out of mistrust of the system or language barriers. What is incontrovertible, say leaders of the Asian-American community nationwide, is that the pandemic created a climate of fear and a feeling of insecurity from New York to California.”

In suggesting that the crime wave is being exaggerated, she followed with more stats to downplay its significance and show that crimes against Hispanics (as if she cared?) are greater. Meanwhile, actual facts show that “hate-fueled attacks on Asian Americans spiked across major U.S. cities last year — in some cases by triple-digit percentages — even as overall hate crimes declined, newly analyzed police department statistics show.”

Ingraham moved to the main message by quoting a Washington Post article which reported on “decades long” tensions between the Asian-American and Black communities which have recently flared up because of videos showing Black perpetrators of anti-Asian assaults.

She introduced guest Ying Ma as the author of “Chinese Girl in the Ghetto.” She didn’t mention that Ying Ma is a Trump loyalist who says that he “will overthrow — not just tinker with — the wretched political correctness that governs this country’s discussions and policies about race, ethnicity, gender, and other immutable characteristics.” She also wrote that the term “Kung Flu” is funny and that America is not a racist country.

Ingraham asked why facts have been eliminated or “twisted altogether” in some of the stories. Ying Ma responded that the reason for this is “political cowardness” and “political correctness.” She blamed “leftist politicians” in “very blue cities” for “unhelpful rhetoric." She asserted that these types of crimes have been happening for many years and what they have in common is that the perpetrators are “young, African-American men” and that those who refused to “categorize” these crimes are now blaming Trump.

Ingraham explained that Ying Ma was saying that “political correctness or political expedience” are behind this unfair blaming of Trump.

To Ingraham’s question as to whether Trump is “in anyway responsible,” Ying Ma put the blame on “truly disgusting and despicable” left-wing Asian American activists and politicians who “refuse to condemn Black-on-Asian violence, particularly in urban areas, and now they’re piling on President Trump because they want to condemn everything that is race related and make it about Trump.”

But, But, Ying Ma does not want “to inflame racial tensions” - but, rather, just “be honest” which is something “leftist politicians” can’t do because of “their ideology.” 

Let's be honest. The issue is how Trump creates an atmosphere of hate in which these incidents occurred. But in keeping hate alive, Laura Ingraham shifted the discussion from anti-Asian hate to foment hostility towards African-Americans. Talk about "unhelpful rhetoric!!" 

Watch the fact twisting from the Ingraham Angle, Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021.