Fox News’ Juan Williams “ruined” an otherwise positive discussion on “The Five” by mocking President Donald Trump for his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
A viral clip from FNC’s “The Five” shows Williams initially continuing the otherwise positive discussion by talking about all the heroic “doctors on the front lines.”
However, he quickly switches to suggesting that the president’s willingness to offer one-time subsidies and assistance during this dire hour of need invalidates his and the Republican Party’s case against full-blown socialism.
“A lot of the politicians in the country realize you’ve got to kiss up to the government right now, to President Trump and others at the CDC and the rest, in order to get attention at a critical moment. And I think it’s important to understand how that relationship of those very key gears can work,” he says.
“But when you talk about giving out money, when you talk about bailouts for big business, gee, I think this was the party that was running against socialism, running against Andrew Yang and Bernie Sanders just a few minutes ago.”
Listen:
(Source: Fox News)
Annoyed by Williams’ hijacking of the segment, co-host Jesse Watters quickly interjects to request that he stop acting like a veritable bonehead.
“Hey Juan, with all due respect, and I say this with all due respect, you’re really misreading the room,” he says. “You’re misreading the country.”
“We’re doing a segment about the positivity of Americans coming together from all walks of life, from the private sector to the public sector, from everyone, and you keep on ruining it, so maybe think about that after the commercial break and try to be a little more positive, Juan. Try to be a little more positive in a time when the country really needs positivity!”
But instead of admitting fault, Williams blurts out the following right before the show goes to commercial: “I think you should go listen to some of the Trump rallies.”
Perhaps he should follow his own advice, because never has the president conflated one-time subsidies and assistance with the full-blown socialism sought by radical Democrats such as presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Conservatives such as the president generally oppose subsidies and assistance because they believe the free market ought to operate independently without a centralized authority from above picking winners, losers and even bigger losers.
But even the staunchest conservatives aren’t opposed to subsidies and assistance being applied during hours of great need, such as during wartime conditions.
And the fact that liberals such as Williams have been unable to comprehend this distinction has made them a target of great mockery from their intellectual betters.
Here’s a perfect example:
It’s super weird how as soon as things get really bad, liberals declare that normal reality is just like an unprecedented global pandemic, so they were right all along. https://t.co/HKET9XBey8
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 17, 2020
“See, during this global war, you guys are FINE with drafting people to fight the Nazis! Where are all the civil libertarians now?!”
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 17, 2020
BTW, also fun to watch the same people who argue for open borders suddenly recognizing that open borders are inappropriate during a pandemic. Almost as though normal political arguments are not supremely useful during a global pandemic.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 17, 2020
Like conservative commentator Ben Shapiro noted in the tweets above, “normal political arguments are not supremely useful during a global pandemic” because global pandemics aren’t normal times.
Of course, even during non-normal times, some truths remain time-tested, one of them being that the free market always works best.
Case in point: “The greatest amount of relief [from the crisis] has not come from the federal government but from the private sector,” Kaylee McGhee of the Washington Examiner correctly notes.
“At least two vaccines have been submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for approval, and several private health companies, such as the Michigan-based NeuMoDx, have rolled out technology that can be adapted and used to test for the coronavirus. All of this happened within a matter of weeks.”
Even National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci has touted the importance of the free market.
“You have to embrace the private sector. You can’t do it without it,” he said during a briefing last week.
Perhaps Williams missed that briefing? No matter, because those who did tune in are more than willing to educate him on the facts:
Hey @TheJuanWilliams, giving taxpayer their own money back when the government has prohibited them from going to work is not “socialism”. I think you may need to study up on what that word actually means.
— Steve Wilson (@pigybank) March 19, 2020
Someone tell @TheJuanWilliams and others that “checks” to Americans and helping businesses at this time IS NOTHING like socialism. This is a pandemic! An “extenuating” circumstance. This is not a monthly check….just because. @greggutfeld please help him understand.
— Glenn M Randolph (@Glennsrants) March 19, 2020
@TheJuanWilliams you’re a pathetic protagonist. The people of this country bailed out the auto industry and the big banks. It is OK for the president to help out the people! It’s a hand UP, not socialism like you are portraying it to be! #TrumpTrain2020 #KAG2020
— LastRazor19 (@LRazor19) March 19, 2020
@TheJuanWilliams does not know how to be positive anymore. No we the people are not embracing socialism now – we are seeing that capitalism is the best way and it is the innovation and hard work of our people that will move us forward!
— pmb (@bamagirlpamb) March 19, 2020
@TheJuanWilliams Government assistance during a catastrophe is not Socialism, it’s nowhere NEAR Socialism. And it’s not what Yang proposed either. It’s to help people through a catastrophe. What part of that can’t your tiny little mind grasp?
— Steve Senes (@stevesenes) March 19, 2020
@TheJuanWilliams on fox right now attempting to equate the financial response to the Corona crisis to socialism as a gotcha moment.
Lets be clear- socialism is defined as total gov control over the economy, at ALL times, not in the immediate response of a government to a crisis.— Paul Kersey (@DeathWishWildey) March 18, 2020
Silly Juan, full-blown socialism is for suckers!
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