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George Conway fired back at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying today impeachment “diverted the attention” of the government away from responding to the coronavirus sooner.

Conway — husband to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway — said it wasn’t impeachment that diverted attention, it was President Donald Trump himself:

This is gaslighting of the highest order… While some lawyers in the executive branch and Congress were working on impeachment around the clock, impeachment didn’t consume the government. Trump managed to get to Mar-a-Lago at least four times in January and February, working in a few rounds of golf along the way. He held five campaign rallies around the country during the impeachment trial…

The problem wasn’t impeachment — it was the president. There was never any chance that the government was going to take sufficient action on the virus when the president himself wasn’t taking the virus seriously. It was Trump, after all, who claimed — at the very end of February, weeks after the impeachment trial had ended — that criticisms such as Murphy’s were a “hoax” and that “within a couple days,” the number of coronavirus cases “is going to be down to close to zero.”

He argues there is a throughline with both Ukraine and the president’s response to coronavirus: “Just as his focus on himself, and his reelection, led him to extort Ukraine and lie about it, so, too, it led him to deceive the public about the coronavirus as well.”

“For Trump, it’s always about Trump and only Trump. If anything, it was McConnell and his fellow Senate Republicans’ refusal to remove him, not the impeachment itself, that helped bring us to where we are today,” he adds.

CNN primetime host Chris Cuomo gave an impassioned monologue at the open of his show Tuesday evening after testing positive for the coronavirus – stating that our only defense against COVID-19 is all people working together.

“Tonight’s show will be a little different. Priority remains, reality set in all the way to the president. Brace yourself, not for a hoax, but for the next few weeks of scary and painful realities. The government is saying we need to keep doing what we are doing. The mitigation efforts are working. The reality, we are our best and, perhaps, only defense. If you need a death toll, you will get it every day, and it will frighten you. 4,000 already. Maybe 100,000. 250,000. Trumped up today by this president potentially saying it could have been millions.”

The host continued, “My suggestion, don’t get caught in the numbers. They’re scary and out of context. We do not have the testing data to make real sense of our reality beyond what we know is the face of it for an overwhelming number who get sick.”

“And that face is mine. I tested positive. Scary. Yes. As you might imagine,” Cuomo stated.

Cuomo then expressed concern over what he could have done to his family – while having the coronavirus.

“But better me than you. My concern is what I may put on my family. Just like you would. That is hurting me way more than anything the virus can do. So, let’s focus, let’s use this example of me having I as proof that you can get it, too.”

“God forbid, we have to do everything we can to avoid being sick. We have to do it for ours, our families, and for those on the front lines, we are saving the lives of people like me and many of you.”

“Together as ever as one. That is our remedy. What do you say? Let’s get after it,” Cuomo concluded.

Watch above, via CNN.

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Fox News’ Tucker Carlson took a moment Tuesday night to decry “censorship” on social media over coronavirus.

In the past few days, Twitter has taken down tweets from public figures like Rudy Giuliani about hydroxychloroquine, for violating Twitter rules on coronavirus misinformation.

Twitter (and Facebook) also removed posts from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for similar reasons after he questioned the need for a quarantine.

Carlson said Bolsonaro “could be completely wrong about that, might also be completely right, we don’t know,” before saying, “Big tech does not believe you should be allowed to think about this.”

“Twitter is censoring comments that say unapproved things about hydroxychloroquine, the antimalaria drug that has shown some promise,” he continued. “Is the drug known for certain to be effective? No it’s not. But some doctors and researchers on the front lines think it works and they are treating patients with it right now. The FDA just approved it. Yet because the media are partisan and stupid, their position is hydroxychloroquine doesn’t work and could never work and if you disagree with that will make you shut up.”

And he even speculated to viewers that it may not stop there:

“It’s just too tempting to use a crisis to achieve your political objectives. Soon they’ll be telling you that Fox News, not China, caused this pandemic. In fact, many are saying that now. How long before they start claiming that in the name of public health, Fox News must be suppressed? Paranoid? Okay, you watch. That’ll happen.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta joined Anderson Cooper 360 after the coronavirus press conference Tuesday evening to outline the “chilling” nature of the presser – while also stating that the tone shift from President Donald Trump, leads him to believe the president now understands the severity of the coronavirus.

Acosta began, “Anderson, I will tell you in seven years I have covered the White House, that is the most stunning briefing I have ever sat through. To have public health officials come in and try to explain to the American people that they need to come to grips with the fact – or the very strong likelihood that we’re going to see 100,000 to 200,000 Americans die over the next couple months from the coronavirus.”

“I have to tell you, it was just downright chilling,” Acosta stated.

Acosta then highlighted the tone shift from Trump, who in late February billed the coronavirus as just like the flu.

“Now, I will say in terms of what the president was saying in the briefing room, this was President Trump changing his tune on the coronavirus. At one point he said it’s not the flu, it’s vicious,” the White House correspondent continued.

Later in the interview, Acosta pointed out that he believes Trump is “scared right now,” which the journalist pointed out could be felt in the White House briefing room.

“But I have to tell you, Anderson, I’ve never seen President Trump like this. I know people might say, well, you know, I can’t ever trust him. He’s a phony and so on. People may say that. Anderson, have to tell you sitting in that room, that close to him, I’ve never seen President Trump like this. I think, to some extent, he is scared right now, Anderson, and we could all feel that in the room.”

Acosta expressed that the Trump on display at the presser late Tuesday evening was “different,” while adding that “I think he gets it.”

“I think there are going to be so many lessons learned moving forward, Anderson. The stark message we got in the briefing room this evening is unmistakable. This country is about to go through a horrendous, terrible experience, and I have to tell you, people may not believe the president when he says any of this, and I have been — you and I’ve been, you know, pretty critical of him from time to time.”

“This was a different Donald Trump tonight, I think he gets it, Anderson,” Acosta concluded.

Watch above, via CNN.

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States across the country are getting celebrities to help raise coronavirus awareness and encourage social distancing to reduce the spread. New York has recruited actors like Robert de Niro and Danny DeVito. Now California has roped in Larry David.

David started off the PSA by acknowledging “somebody put me up to this” but then segued into addressing “the idiots out there” who aren’t following social distancing guidelines.

“You’re hurting old people like me. Well, not me… I’ll never see you.”

Larry David wants everyone to stay home to protect older Californians from #COVID19!
He does not do these things.
Listen to Larry.#StayHomeSaveLiveshttps://t.co/snYe5v55Rw pic.twitter.com/C5cKOaAufE

— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) March 31, 2020

“You’re socializing too close, it’s not good. You’re hurting old people like me,” he said. “Well, not like me, I have nothing to do with you. I’ll never see you.”

“But, you know, other — let’s say, other old people who might be your relatives!”

He also sold young people on the “once in a lifetime opportunity to stay in the house, sit on the couch, and watch TV.”

David added that anyone who’s seen Curb Your Enthusiasm knows “nothing good ever happens going out of the house.”

President Donald Trump shifted tone at his coronavirus press conference on Tuesday evening in The White House briefing room, hammering home that the coronavirus is “not the flu” – while over a month ago in late February, the president was billing COVID-19 as just “like a flu.”

Trump also shared a story that one of his friends was in a coma after contracting COVID-19.

Trump began, “I think we’re doing better than that. I think we have to see, but I think we’re doing better than that because, as John said, that would be a lot of lives taking place over a relatively short period of time.”

“But think of what would have happened if we didn’t do anything. I mean, I’ve had many friends, business people, people with great actually common sense, they said why don’t we ride it out. A lot of people have thought about it. Ride it out. Don’t do anything. Just ride it out and think of it as the flu.”

“But it’s not the flu. It’s vicious,” Trump added.

Trump then told a story about one of his friends who’s in a coma after contracting the coronavirus.

“When you send a friend to the hospital and you call up to find out how is he doing, it happened to me, where goes to the hospital, he says goodbye, sort of a tough guy. A little older, a little heavier than he’d like to be, frankly, and you call up the next day how is he doing, and he is in a coma? This is not the flu,” Trump continued.

“We would see the same things had we done nothing. For a long while, people were asking that question. I was asking it also. A lot of people were saying well, let’s just ride it out. This is not to be ridden out because then you would be looking at potentially 2.2 million people or more. 2.2 million people in a relatively short period of time.”

CNN’s Daniel Dale highlighted on Twitter that Trump as, of February 26, touted that the coronavirus was just like the flu.

“This is a flu. This is like a flu,” Trump stated over a month ago, “I mean, view this the same as the flu.”

Trump February 26: “This is a flu. This is like a flu.” “I mean, view this the same as the flu.”

Trump today: “A lot of people” said, “Ride it out. Don’t do anything, just ride it out and think of it as the flu.’ But it’s not the flu. It’s vicious.”

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 31, 2020

He also tweeted this comparison earlier this month:

So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020

Watch above, via MSNBC.

During Tuesday’s White House coronavirus task force press briefing, CNN’s Jim Acosta asked President Donald Trump about the U.S. response to the spread of coronavirus and whether POTUS waited too long.

Acosta asked if there’s “any fairness to the criticism that you may have lulled Americans into a false sense of security, when you were saying things like it’s going to go away.”

“It’s going to go away, hopefully at the end of the month. If not, it hopefully will be soon after that,” Trump responded.

“Hasn’t your thinking on this evolved?” Acosta asked. “You’re taking it more seriously now.”

The president said he’s “not about bad news” and wants to give people hope and “the feeling that we all have a chance.”

He defended the U.S. response and said he wants to be a “cheerleader for the country” during this pandemic.

There was a brief back-and-forth when Acosta said “You don’t like the question, but are you taking responsibility…” and the president remarked, “I know you well enough, so it’s not meant to be a fair question, but it is a fair question.”

The president continued and said, “I think we’re way ahead of schedule in terms of numbers. I think, I hope. But if we can keep it under the minimum numbers — the country has done a great job”

You can watch above, via Fox News.

CNN primetime host Chris Cuomo asked his brother, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), on Monday night if after his recent rise to national attention in handling the coronavirus will lead him to consider a bid for the White House to run against President Donald Trump.

The CNN host began, “So he weaponizes it and says you know what he should do, he should run for president, this guy, Cuomo. He’d be better than [Joe] Biden, this guy Cuomo. But he’d beat him, too. Let me ask you something.”

“With all of this adulation that you’re getting for doing your job, are you thinking about running for president?” Cuomo asked his brother.

“Tell the audience,” the host added.

The governor replied, “No. No. ”

“No, you won’t answer?” the host asked.

Andrew Cuomo stated, “No. I answered. The answer is no.”

The back and forth with questions from the CNN host to his brother then began in rapid-fire succession.

“No, you’re not thinking about it?

“Sometimes it’s one word. I said no.”

“Have you thought about it?” “No.”

“Are you open to thinking about it? “No.”

“Might you think about it at some point? “No.”

The CNN host then asked his brother, “How can you know what you might think about at some point right now?”

“Because I know what I might think about and what I won’t think about. But you’re a great interviewer, by the way,” the governor stated.

Asked about Biden – the governor stated, “I worked with him when he was vice president. He has been a tremendous asset to the state of New York when he was the vice president with President Obama. So I’ve worked with him on a professional level. I know him very well personally. I can’t say enough good things about Joe Biden, so I think he’s a great public servant. I think he’s been extraordinary on a number of levels.”

Watch above, via CNN.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes called out cable networks continuing to air live President Donald Trump‘s daily coronavirus press conferences stating it “seems crazy to me.”

Amidst an interview with Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Monday evening on his MSNBC show, All In with Chris Hayes, the host aimed the decisions by networks to air the pressers.

“Yeah, that’s why he’s bragging about the ratings. It’s obviously above my pay grade,” Hayes said. “I don’t make the call if we take him or not, but it seems crazy to me everyone is taking them when you have the ‘MyPillow guy’ getting up there talking about reading the Bible.”

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell made remarks at the press conference held Monday afternoon in the White House Rose Garden – promising to increase and shift his factory’s production from pillows to cotton face masks to the tune of 50,000 per day.

Watch above, via MSNBC.

Senator Chris Murphy (D- CT) ripped President Donald Trump on MSNBC Monday night and said his personal response to coronavirus “feels like Ukraine all over again.”

Chris Hayes spoke with Murphy about the daily coronavirus press conferences featuring the president. Murphy said, “The president really sees, you know, his only responsibility as one of managing a public relations campaign about trying to set expectations so ridiculously low that he can’t help but step over the bar.”

He said it’s “pretty harrowing… to watch this lack of leadership from the White House” and even dinged media outlets for “go[ing] along with it.”

At one point, Hayes brought up comments from the president last week hitting governors he said weren’t being appreciative enough of the federal agencies doing the relief work across the country.

Dr. Anthony Fauci was on CNN Sunday and Jake Tapper asked him, “Can you assure the American people that whether or not they get the help they need from the federal government, it does not depend on whether their governors are appreciative enough of the federal help or flattering enough of the Trump administration?”

Fauci said, “I think the reality, not the rhetoric, but the reality is that the people who need things will get what they need.”

“There’s been a wide disparity in terms of how the federal government has responded to some states and others,” Hayes said tonight in speaking with Murphy. He noted Andrew Cuomo has been grateful for some of the aid New York has received, but asked Murphy, “Do you have concerns right now there is an uneven response federally that depends on the politics of the governor at play and the degree to which the president’s ego is massaged?”

Murphy said, “It sort of feels like Ukraine all over again. You know, the president is, you know, now instead of using foreign aid, using emergency relief in order to try to get people to do his political bidding. The message seems pretty clear: if you criticize the president, then you are going to get attacked and you are potentially going to have critical medical supplies with held and if you get the president’s back politically, we’ll send you what you need.”

You can watch above, via MSNBC.

Fox Nation hosts Diamond & Silk raised eyebrows when a recent clip of their questioning coronavirus death tolls as part of some larger anti-Trump conspiracy went viral.

The North Carolinian natives Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, better known as Diamond and Silk, became famous as video bloggers and social media influencers who were vocal supporters of then-candidate Donald Trump.  Their media influence only became bigger as Trump moved into the White House and they became very frequent quests on many opinion-based Fox News programs.

During a video blog post that went up Monday, the two suggested that the rising death toll as a result of a coronavirus was not actually real, but was some conspiracy designed to damage President Trump politically. Watch below:

Diamond & Silk are speculating coronavirus deaths are being inflated to make Trump look bad pic.twitter.com/hBnB7422UP

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) March 30, 2020

As you can see, above there is a clear suggestion that exponential deaths as a result of Covid-19 is a media conspiracy. Why? Because in Diamond and Silk’s purview, only one person died in the first 39 days of the coronavirus scare, but an additional 1,000 people who “supposedly died” from the coronavirus in the past week. “Watch the numbers go up,” was then said, followed by “they want to make it look bad.”

The idea that the death toll is a media creation is not only unproven but also a remarkably dangerous undermining of reliable information outlets, including President Trump’s own administration.

After watching this clip, viewers who trust and believe Diamond & Silk are left to believe that the coronavirus pandemic is largely a media conspiracy and will almost certainly ignore other orders of self-quarantining and social distancing designed to limit the death toll that, according to White House officials, could come to 100,00o to 200,000 deaths

The First Amendment makes clear that anyone is free to say whatever crazy thing they want to say. What makes Diamond & Silk so uniquely influential is the platform they are afforded on Fox Nation.

Fox Nation, of course, is the subscription-based streaming service that features exclusive opinion programming, which features the show Diamond & Silk, hosted by Fayetteville, North Carolina natives. As part of the ongoing promotion of the fledgling streaming service, the two political activists and social media sensations often show up on a myriad of Fox News opinion shows.

Under different circumstances, Diamond & Silk’s brand of binary political finger-pointing is understandable, even may be seen as good fun by many of their viewers. But during a global pandemic when so many lives are at risk, unproven conspiracy theories are literally deadly. And those who provide the enormous platform to irresponsible commentary should also be held to account.

Diamond & Silk are not employed by Fox News, but their content is licensed in the same manner that many television or streaming programs are underwritten by networks. When reached for comment, Fox News had nothing in response.

Meghan McCain, currently staying at home after recently announcing her pregnancy, went off on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s coronavirus response in an interview with Mediaite founder Dan Abrams.

De Blasio has faced criticism for not taking the pandemic more seriously earlier on and on The Dan Abrams Show today, McCain contrasted his leadership with Governor Andrew Cuomo’s.

McCain said the crisis has shown “what an absolute irresponsible buffoon” de Blasio has been, bringing up comments of his weeks ago about how New Yorkers should go about their lives.

“I’ve been done with de Blasio for a long time, I can’t stand him, he killed the groundhog on Groundhog Day,” she said. “New York deserves so much better than this man.”

You can listen above, via SiriusXM.