The mainstream media is at it again, taking Trump out of context to launch a vicious attack.
On Thursday morning, Politico published a story suggesting that Trump, in his interview with Maria Bartiromo on the Fox Business Network, blamed his COVID-19 infection on Gold Star family members “who were too close to him when telling stories of their loved ones who died in the line of duty.”
“It is a very important question for our country because now the president is saying that he probably got this from the Gold Star families,” Pelosi said in response to Trump’s comments. “Can you believe that he would say such a thing?”
Except he didn’t.
Here’s what happened. Trump had told Maria Bartiromo that he “figured there would be a chance” he’d catch the virus because he’s often in close contact with people.
“Sometimes, I’d be in groups of, for instance, Gold Star families. I met with Gold Star families. I didn’t want to cancel that,” Trump explained. “But they all came in, and they all talk about their son and daughter and father. And, you know, they all came up to me, and they tell me a story.”
“I can’t say, ‘Back up, stand 10 feet,’ you know? I just can’t do it,” Trump added. “They want to hug me, and they want to kiss me. And they do. And, frankly, I’m not telling them to back up. I’m not doing it.”
Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser to the Trump campaign, is disgusted by this latest smear against Trump. “The story saying President Trump blames Gold Star families is false and a grotesque attack,” she told PJ Media. “Listen to the interview for yourself. He said he knew there was a chance he could at some point catch the virus because he is not at all times six feet away from people.”
You can listen to that part of the Trump interview below:
No, Trump didn’t blame Gold Star families for his blaming COVID. It’s very clear listening to this interview.pic.twitter.com/X9DrYdyOBD
— Matt Margolis 🇺🇸 (@mattmargolis) October 8, 2020
“Gold Star families are just one example of the many Americans he loves more than he ever feared the virus,” Ellis added.
Ellis cites fake stories like this as the reason nobody trusts the media anymore. “They’re activists, not journalists. They constantly blatantly mischaracterize him and lie about him,” she said. “President Trump has a greater love for America and the American people than anyone I’ve ever met in public service.”
“I was on a call with President Trump after his meeting with the Gold Star families. The call was delayed nearly 30 minutes because he did not want to rush them and wanted to listen to their stories and hug them,” explained Ellis. “He expressed his love and sympathy for these families.”
Despite Trump’s obvious respect for Gold Star families, the media and the Democratic Party pounced on Trump’s words, deliberately mischaracterizing what he said for political gain. Democrats similarly exploited the debunked story in The Atlantic which claimed President Trump didn’t want to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018 because the troops there who died in battle were “losers” and “suckers.” The media repeated this story as though it were true, and it has been used by the Biden campaign as a line of attack, despite the fact that to this day, the anonymous sources have not come forward and dozens of witnesses who were with the president that day, including John Bolton, say Trump never said anything like the story claimed.
White House spokeswoman Alyssa Farah also told reporters on Thursday afternoon that Trump wasn’t blaming Gold Star families, and that, based on contract tracing his event with Gold Star families, it isn’t even believed to have been the source of the spread. “His point was merely that in the timeframe that he was potentially exposed, there were a number of different venues he’d been at and individuals he had interacted with that it could have come from — and by no means [is Trump] blaming anyone who was present,” Farah explained. “And we did take a lot of precautions for that event. So based on contact tracing, the data we have, we don’t think it arose from that event.”
With less than a month to go before the election, the anti-Trump media and the Democratic Party aren’t acting like Biden is comfortably in the lead as polls suggest. The above video makes it crystal clear that Trump wasn’t blaming Gold Star families or any group or individual in particular.
The never-ending smears against Trump reek of desperation from a party (and media) not confident in Biden’s chances in November.
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Matt Margolis is the author of the new book Airborne: How The Liberal Media Weaponized The Coronavirus Against Donald Trump, and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
