MSNBC host Joy Reid compared President Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis this week to the shooting that left former President Trump injured over the weekend and pointed out how the two events are being portrayed by the media.
“These two men are both elderly. Donald Trump is an elderly man who, for whatever reason, was given nine seconds to take an iconic photo op during an active shooter situation. Weird situation, we’ll figure that out one day,” Reid said Wednesday evening as part of the network’s prime-time coverage of the Republican National Convention.
Reid said Trump’s survival of the attempt on his life Saturday and attendance at the convention this week “is being conveyed in the media world as a sign of strength.”
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The liberal pundit then added Biden “is 81 years old and has COVID.”
Reid wondered out loud of Biden, “Should he be fine in a couple of day, doesn’t that convey the exact same thing? That he’s strong enough, older than Trump, to have gotten something that used to really be fatal to people his age.”
The host then stopped herself, clarifying, “I mean, it’s not exactly the same. … It’s not the same incident, but it’s an elderly man coming through, out of an illness.”
The White House said late Wednesday that Biden had tested positive for the virus and was returning to Delaware to isolate and recover, while carrying out his duties as president from there.
The president is facing calls from some Democrats to drop out of the race following a shaky debate performance late last month and major questions about his ability to defeat Trump in the fall election.
Trump is slated to officially accept the GOP nomination for president on the convention’s final night Thursday and give his first speech since the assassination attempt.