He might want this tweet back.
Chris Hayes, one of the many Trump-obsessed anchors on MSNBC, was widely criticized over a tweet where he mentioned early projections of a higher coronavirus death toll and questioned if the numbers were intentionally elevated so that the Trump administration could “take a victory lap.”
Hayes commented on another tweeted Wednesday that showed President Trump at a White House press briefing. Trump touted new projections that dramatically lower the U.S. death toll from the virus, and said if the U.S. manages to keep coronavirus death “substantially under 100,000,” he would think the U.S. did a good job in its response.
Hayes tweeted that his “most cynical interpretation”– one he just can’t quite bring himself to accept– is that “they” rolled out “the model showing 100k deaths after they knew it would be less than that so they could anchor everyone to that # and take a vicotry (sp) lap when “only” tens of thousands died.”
On Thursday afternoon, the U.S. has 363,000 official cases of the virus and over 15,000 deaths. Many with the virus are asymptomatic so these numbers are believed to be understated.
John Sexton, a contributing editor at HotAir, responded to Hayes’ tweet, “Keep your chin up, Chris, we may still have 100k deaths.”
The U.S. government has been relying on various models to project how many COVID-19 cases are likely to emerge in the U.S. These numbers help health officials plan for an increased or decreased workload. On Wednesday, a key model projected that COVID-19 cases could be dramatically less than what was initially predicted.
Critics of Hayes used the tweet as evidence that the liberal media is actively rooting against Trump’s coronavirus response.
“Even when he succeeds he fails,” another Twitter user wrote. “No winning for Trump/America with these people.”
Hayes was put on the defensive on Twitter and pointed to his comment that he can’t bring himself to accept the theory. Mediaite reported that even 538’s Nate Silver noted that the tweet “doesn’t quite hold up.”
Hayes continued his defense and got esoteric: “It doesn’t hold up as a matter of the knowability of the future, but there’s a question—unanswered!—about when/how the IHME model became the focal point and the one they chose to walk everyone through *when* they did.”
Hayes was referring to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington that now predicts that the U.S. will see a drop in 60,500 deaths by August, which is down 30 percent.
Last month, Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine, told CNBC that the death toll in the U.S. could be in the millions.
“We have 350 million people in the United States, and you do the math…” she said. “If 70 million people are eventually infected with this virus and again if there are multiple waves of this virus, then you can do the math and then you can get there.”
Hayes felt the unusual wrath from Twitter users who dislike the president.
“I hate Trump with a passion but this unhinged liberal media bashing of Trump will help him,” another Twitter user posted.