Fox's Pete Hegseth: Democrats and the media are “rooting for coronavirus to spread”
Hegseth: “Democrats are cheering for a virus because they hate Donald Trump so much”
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From the February 28, 2020, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Let's talk about the Democrats and the media with this coronavirus. They're making it political, and did you see this headline? This is a headline in The New York Times op-ed: "Let's call it Trump virus. If you're feeling awful, you know who to blame." Pete?
PETE HEGSETH (FOX & FRIENDS WEEKEND CO-HOST): Yeah. I mean, it's the absolute height of irresponsibility, but it's also the natural place where we knew Democrats would go. And listen, I don't want to say this, it's not, it doesn't -- I don't relish the reality, but you start to feel -- you really do, watch the Democrats, watch the media -- you start to feel like they're rooting for coronavirus to spread. And I don't say that flippantly, I really don't, but they're rooting for it to grow, they're rooting for the problem to get worse, they're rooting for mysteries, unknown cases, quarantines, towns, for it to become an absolute national crisis for one reason and one reason alone. They have yet to find a reason to try to drag down the presidency of Donald Trump. And because this could be a national crisis, it already is grabbing international headlines, if it takes hold in the United States of America, even though it is not the fault of Donald Trump, they will try it to pin it to him like his Katrina moment and make it political. And so a headline like this lays bare their intentions, because we know it already, they just won't say it. So, I think it's important to say it, because we know it's in the backs of the minds of a lot of Democrats, and the backs of the minds of a lot of us who watch how this is playing out.
[...]
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): By the way, I'd just like to say this, Tom Steyer just emailed this out, and the headline is, "Coronavirus could be Trump's Katrina," called it a total failure, his response to it so far. With no deaths and 60 cases.
HEGSETH: Well that's exactly what I was going to say, Brian. No deaths, without any -- what do you say? What do you say, other than you know where they're going. Their hatred is blinding. And ultimately, they're --
EARHARDT: But how sick is that? How sick is -- and the economy is down right now because of the coronavirus.
KILMEADE: The market is, yeah.
EARHARDT: The market is, they're probably jumping for joy.
HEGSETH: Ainsley, but you know how much they hate this president.
EARHARDT: I know.
HEGSETH: They're cheering -- I can't believe I'm on national television saying that Democrats are cheering for a virus because they hate Donald Trump so much. And that's what it is. That's precisely what it is. If they were focused on a solution, they would be working with him, they would be saying, let's put all the politics aside and identify what the issue is and make sure we keep Americans safe. Instead, they are capitalizing on it, you're going to see it in the Democrat primary even more. You're seeing it from candidates, you're seeing it from The New York Times. It's a shame.