Opinion: Trump & Fox News Don’t Seem To Care That 101,000 People Are Dead

The number is hard to grasp. More than 100,000 people dead from coronavirus in less than three months. More than 101,000 lives gone. Each of those people deserves to be remembered, to be grieved. But if you tune into Fox News you wouldn’t know it. The network barely mentioned the number over the last 24 hours. CNN’s Oliver Darcy points out that both the Fox News website and the on-air programming buried or completely ignored the deaths:

None of its prime time shows led with the somber news regarding the death toll. Martha MacCallum, who hosts what is supposed to be Fox’s go-to “straight news” program, started her show with the story regarding a student suspected of two homicides. It took her more than 50 minutes to get to the news about 100,000 dead Americans. She saved it for her last segment.

Trump didn’t send out any condolences to mark the grim milestone until Thursday morning when he (or someone on his staff) put up this tweet.

Is that tweet really enough to mark more than 100,000 deaths? The Washington Post points out that “as the nation reached a bleak milestone this weekTrump has been uncharacteristically silent. His public schedule this week contains no special commemoration, no moment of silence, no collective sharing of grief.” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes says Trump is “bored with dealing with the virus, he’s moving on, he wants us to move on too. He’s mad at the virus for screwing up his re-election.” (Watch more of what Hayes said above)

By contrast, Joe Biden released this video with a heartfelt message to those who have lost loved one:

“I know there is nothing I or anyone else can say or do to dull the sharpness of the pain you feel right now, but I promise you the day will come when the memory of your loved one will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eyes.”

*This post contains opinion & analysis