On Tuesday morning’s New Day, CNN co-host John Berman brought on former Obama official and national security analyst Juliette Kayyem to discuss Florida’s education commissioner ordering schools to reopen in August. Kayyem, a good Democrat, did not provide any expert analysis, but instead spouted venom at Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and fear mongered about children going back to school.
To his credit, Berman began the discussion with a fair question:
Let's talk about Florida and let's talk about schools which is something you've written extensively about in just the last day. The education commissioner there ordered in August five-day schooling for the entire state, and he's doing this as case -- cases hit record numbers there. Look, no one wants kids back in school more than I do. I live with two 13-year-old boys who smell funny and are messy. I want them out of the house! But I want them out safely. So, that announcement coming today, given where Florida is. Your analysis.
Kayyem’s “analysis” was nothing more than Democratic campaigning (click "expand"):
It’s -- I mean, my analyst is that that is insane. I mean, it’s -- it's not very deep analysis. When we open schools, especially for k-12, it has to be based on what the community spread is and whether it can be sort of contained, right? We've got to protect not just the kids, but the staff and the teachers and the bus drivers. There are jurisdictions in this country that can do it right now. I believe that's true. Or some combination of hybrid and in-person, depending on whether, you know, classrooms can be reconfigured. That Florida is mandating in every jurisdiction that kids -- kids -- go back to school is -- is -- I mean -- it -- it -- it sort of defies any sort of explanation from, you know, from a security and safety perspective. And if I sound animated, it's because it’s kids, right? I mean, in other words, our standards should be a little bit better than what you're seeing with DeSantis. I think DeSantis has no -- I mean, I think politically, DeSantis is looking for a save from the White House. He is a weak man. He is a Trump supporter. He has never taken leadership of Florida. He has let the mayors do what they need to do. We know that -- that -- that various jurisdictions have now closed down. And so, he's looking for a save from the White House. And I think the question now is, is does the White House see that now?
Nothing like unrealistic fear porn to answer a legitimate question. But think of the children!!
If Kayyem wanted to provide actual data about a Republican run state, she could have mentioned that the death rate has declined nationally by 76% over the last 10 weeks. Or that over half the deaths in the majority of states are not related to children but are in nursing homes, which is .6 of America’s total population. She could have mentioned that the overall death rate from COVID is 0.26 percent and that the CDC says that school age children almost never die from COVID or even need to be hospitalized. Or that asymptomatic spread of the virus is very rare.
Obviously the only way to be a strong man is to be a Democrat! And if Kayyem wants to look at governors who have mismanaged COVID-19, she should look at her own party. Six of the 10 states which have had the most cases are led by Democratic governors. The two states which have had the most cases, New York and California, both have Democratic governors.
The six states with the most deaths are also Democrat led states, with New York and New Jersey having by far the most deaths at 31,911 and 15,229. In comparison, Florida has only 3,777 deaths. This all despite that Florida has a comparable population to New York and a much larger population than New Jersey. New York has such a high death total due its Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. He is responsible for as many as 12,000 thousand nursing home COVID deaths due to a March 25th executive order to send recovering COVID patients to nursing homes.
If Kayyem wants to attack “weak” governors who have mishandled the coronavirus, she should set her sights on Cuomo, California’s Gavin Newsom, and New Jersey’s Phil Murphy. But she won’t do that because they are Democrats and she is a partisan hack who only cares about creating a false narrative that Republicans cannot handle the virus.
CNN does not care about facts, they have an election to win for the Democrats in November.
This hateful Democratic propaganda was brought to viewers by Mr. Clean, Sensodyne, and U-Haul.
Read the full July 7th transcript here:
CNN's New Day
07/07/20
6:15:17 AMJOHN BERMAN: Well, mass social distancing and lockdowns, Juliette. Let's talk about Florida and let's talk about schools --
JULIETTE KAYYEM (CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST): Yeah.
BERMAN: -- which is something you've written extensively about in just the last day.
KAYYEM: Yeah.
BERMAN: The education commissioner there ordered in August five-day schooling for the entire state, and he's doing this as case -- cases hit record numbers there. Look, no one wants kids back in school more than I do. I live with two 13-year-old boys who smell funny and are messy. I want them out of the house! But I want them out safely.
KAYYEM: Right.
BERMAN: So, that announcement coming today, given where Florida is. Your analysis.
KAYYEM: It’s -- I mean, my analyst is that that is insane. I mean, it’s -- it's not very deep analysis. When we open schools, especially for k-12, it has to be based on what the community spread is and whether it can be sort of contained, right? We've got to protect not just the kids, but the staff and the teachers and the bus drivers. There are jurisdictions in this country that can do it right now. I believe that's true. Or some combination of hybrid and in-person, depending on whether, you know, classrooms can be reconfigured. That Florida is mandating in every jurisdiction that kids -- kids -- go back to school is -- is -- I mean -- it -- it -- it sort of defies any sort of explanation from, you know, from a security and safety perspective. And if I sound animated, it's because its kid’s right? I mean, in other words, our standards should be a little bit better than what you're seeing with DeSantis. I think DeSantis has no -- I mean, I think politically, DeSantis is looking for a save from the White House. He is a weak man. He is a Trump supporter. He has never taken leadership of Florida. He has let the mayors do what they need to do. We know that -- that -- that various jurisdictions have now closed down. And so, he's looking for a save from the White House. And I think the question now is, is does the White House see that now? In other words, are they -- are they going to start to have a national standard for masking, some guidance on school opening, to take leadership role? You're hearing murmurings about -- about that. But until then, I think, you know, I think parents in Florida are going to, you know, essentially, have to do a form of civil disobedience. I will tell you now, I would not send my kid to a school or jurisdiction in Florida, given the numbers that I see now in places like Miami.
