Ever since coronavirus was first detected in the United States, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs has been proudly spouting White House talking points, claiming that the virus was merely a “hoax” made up by the news media to embarrass President Donald Trump.
The Daily Beast notes that in recent days, Dobbs used some of the exact same language that came from Trump himself:
“Less than two weeks ago, even as he reported that the virus had infected 113,000 people in 111 countries and territories around the world, Dobbs was accusing the ‘national left-wing media’ of ‘playing up fears of the coronavirus’ in order to drive down the stock market.
“More recently, he had taken to echoing Trump by referring to COVID-19 as the ‘Wuhan virus’ and lauding the president for causing a brief market increase with his national emergency declaration a week ago. On Wednesday of this week, he put up a poll on his screen that asked viewers to rate Trump’s ‘leadership’ on the ‘Wuhan virus.’ He gave them three options: ‘Superb,’ ‘Great’ or ‘Very good.'”
This snapshot of a @loudobbs poll from @brianstelter’s newsletter tonight would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous. pic.twitter.com/OjAkJXknaI
— Matthew T. Hall 🏡 (@SDuncovered) March 19, 2020
But Friday’s edition of “Lou Dobbs Tonight” began in an rather odd manner: With fill-in host David Asman grimly announcing:
“Lou is in self-quarantine tonight. We just learned that one of his team members has tested positive for COVID-19. Lou feels well, he has no symptoms, but out of an abundance of caution, he and his team are taking the necessary precautions.”
Lou Dobbs is in self-quarantine after one of his team members tested positive for COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/rK18ys9xjc
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) March 20, 2020
Ah, sweet karma!
Dobbs and the other sycophants at Fox have been screeching that the COVID-19 scare is meant to destroy Trump. (As if he needs any help with that.) But they forgot to factor in that a virus doesn’t care who you are or how you try to pervert the truth. Coronavirus is an equal opportunity attacker, and now Dobbs gets to eat crow for two full weeks.
It’d be nice to think that a two-week respite would give Dobbs time to reflect on his own stupidity and admit he was wrong. But it’s a safe bet he’ll be back and trying to downplay the pandemic once again. Some people just never learn.