Geraldo Rivera suggested he’d like to duke it out with Dan Bongino after he accused Rivera of spreading “Chinese propaganda” for blaming Trump’s disastrous Oval Office address about COVID-19 on aide Stephen Miller.
“I thought the speech was very clumsy,” Rivera said on the Hannity show last night. “It took two hours to clarify. The “clarification” Rivera referred to was Trump’s omission that U.S. citizens would be exempt from his travel ban.
Rivera didn’t even mention that Trump also made two important factual errors in what we now know was an ad libbed address that caused global markets to immediately plunge.
But before Rivera had a chance to mention the other problems with Trump’s speech (such as no updates on the virus’ spread nor the availability of testing), Top Lickspittle Hannity interrupted.
“Stop!” Hannity commanded. Apparently, the bullyboy was feeling rather defensive about his Bedtime BFF. He started yelling, “In three weeks, the guy put a ban in place, got the crap kicked out of him for doing it, and guess what? The single best decision to keep Americans safe, period!”
FACT CHECK: Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told Hannity Trump’s travel ban was insufficient and would, at best, only delay “a big outbreak.” But Hannity keeps pretending otherwise.
“I want Americans safe!” Hannity exclaimed. Meaning, of course, he wants Trump safe. Trump has put American lives in jeopardy through his dishonest, incompetent and unserious handling of the COVID-19 crisis. But Hannity ignored the facts that the disease is spreading, Americans can’t get tested and that the economy has been tanking. Instead, he shouted that Rivera should “focus” on the fact that “No president in history had the guts and made the right call that protected more Americans than this guy!”
Rivera assured Hannity “We’re on the same [Trump-loving] side.” What seemed to get lost in all the yelling was that Rivera was throwing Trump a lifeline by blaming Miller for Trump’s own botched address. “That speech was written by senior advisor Stephen Miller, same guy that imposed the Muslim ban – " Rivera began.
Hannity was nearly apoplectic now. He called on Bongino, an even louder-mouthed Trump lackey than Hannity, to “bail me out.”
Bongino immediately demonstrated the “unglued” behavior that reportedly got him banned from the Fox News @ Night show.
Rather than defend Dear Leader, Bongino, his eyes popping, accused Rivera of “repeating Chinese propaganda.”
Hannity said nothing to defend colleague Rivera from this obviously dishonest smear.
But Rivera did a decent job of defending himself. “Oh, don't give me that crap,” he shot back. He accused Bongino of being “a cheap-shot artist.”
“You know what? You’re a bullshit artist!” Bongino bellowed.
“You're lucky you're not in front of me, big guy,” Rivera said. More to the point of the discussion, he later asked, “Do you have a fact?” and “Can you make an intellectual argument?”
Short answer: no. “Listen, you're upset because you're getting called out right now, that's why,” Bongino said. “The Wuhan virus from Wuhan is a virus from China that is a foreign virus. Blaming it on Stephen Miller is outrageously stupid.”
Rivera was 100% on board with calling it the Wuhan virus. He was merely upset with the travel misinformation via Miller. Rivera said nothing about the fact that the words came out of Trump’s mouth, so he was responsible for them.
When Hannity finally interrupted, it was not to correct Bongino’s ridiculous “Chinese propaganda” smear, it was to laud the Beloved. “Did the president in three weeks [issue his travel ban] take that position and protected untold thousands of Americans, right?”
“Yes,” Rivera assured him.
“With huge political courage,” Hannity added, obviously satisfied now.
You can watch what passes for political analysis and coronavirus information below, from the March 12, 2020 Hannity, via Media Matters.