Joy Reid has been accused of “next-level desperation” after suggesting Joe Biden’s encounter with Covid is as heroic as Donald Trump’s defiance of an assassin’s bullet.
The MSNBC host was speaking from the Republican National Convention when news broke that the president had canceled a speech in Las Vegas after testing positive for Covid.
The liberal host dismissed the attack on Trump as a “photo opportunity” and seemed dismayed by the contrast drawn by delegates between the president’s frailty and his rival’s vigorous response to being shot.
“If (Biden) is fine in a couple of days, doesn’t that convey exactly the same thing?” he asked.
The answer appeared to be a resounding no from many on social media, where Reid was ridiculed for his “mental gymnastics.”
“Wow… that’s what success is all about,” wrote one.
Joy Reid was appearing live from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee when she made her startling claim
She appeared furious that Donald Trump was allowed to show his defiance to fans after being shot in the head at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night.
The Brooklyn-born Harvard graduate was sharing a panel with former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki and raged at the Secret Service for failing to stop photographers from reporting that Trump was still alive in the seconds after he was shot at Saturday’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“These two men are older,” he observed.
‘Donald Trump is an older man who, for some reason, was given nine seconds to take an iconic photograph during an active shooter situation.
‘Strange situation, one day we will solve it.
“But his survival and his recovery and his attendance at the convention are being presented in the media world as a sign of strength,” he complained.
‘The current US president is 81 years old and has Covid. If he recovers in a couple of days, wouldn’t he transmit exactly the same thing?’
‘That he is strong enough, older than Trump, to have received something that actually used to be fatal for people of his age?
“So if he does well and comes back and is able to rally, isn’t that exactly the same thing?”
“That’s how it should be!” Psaki agreed.
The MSNBC host said Joe Biden (pictured shortly before his Covid diagnosis on Wednesday) would show the same strength if he recovers from his latest illness.
As he boarded Air Force One without a mask for the flight back to the East Coast to begin isolation, he gave a thumbs-up and said, “I feel good.”
The president appeared to make light of his diagnosis in a fundraising tweet minutes later.
The president followed up the announcement of his latest health concern on Wednesday afternoon with a cryptic tweet that read: “I’m sick.”
Three minutes later, he added: “Elon Musk and his rich friends trying to buy this election.”
He later carefully boarded Air Force One, using the shortest flight of stairs, for a flight home to Delaware to begin isolation.
Biden, who was not wearing a mask, gave a thumbs-up from his vehicle before getting in and said, “I feel good.”
In an interview this week, Biden said he would only respond to growing demands from Democratic lawmakers to drop out of the White House race if doctors told him to and there was a medical reason making it necessary.
“If I had some medical condition that came up, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you have this problem and that problem,” Biden said in an interview with BET News.
Meanwhile, Trump is scheduled to deliver his keynote address at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night after receiving a rapturous reception from delegates during his first appearance on Monday.
He was there to watch model Amber Rose give a speech praising him for his support of black people – comments that also infuriated the MSNBC host, who was accused of “racial incitement” after sneeringly dismissing the model as “racially ambiguous”.
“I don’t want to say she’s black because she herself has said she’s not,” Reid said.
“This woman, whatever race she has claimed to be, has said she is not black, but (the RNC) brought in someone whose entire career is based on black culture.”
‘Her whole culture comes from black culture, even though she herself says she is not a black person.
Reid’s comments came after she was accused of “racial incitement” over model Amber Rose’s speech to RNC delegates on Monday.
Amber Rose greeted the crowd attending the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday night after announcing her support for former President Donald Trump’s candidacy.
Former President Donald Trump, who officially became the Republican nominee early Monday, made a brief appearance at the end of the first day of the Republican National Convention and smiled as Amber Rose spoke.
“The fact that she’s now the person they’re using to try to recruit young people of color and say this is the person who supports Donald Trump who should be trusted when she doesn’t even vindicate the culture that brought her to the table, I doubt that that’s going to work.”
The model, who used to date rapper Kanye West, responded to the presenter by insisting: “I never said I wasn’t black.”
“I said I identify as biracial,” she added in a now-deleted tweet.
‘I’m not going to invalidate my white father to make you feel more comfortable.
“Stop stirring up racism, your president stirs up enough racism for all of us.”