‘I feel bad for whoever let this one slip through…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) If one CNN viewer’s concerns about coronavirus comorbidity factors are correct, then it could prove more dangerous to anchor Chris Cuomo than a weekend fishing retreat with the Corleone family.
Cuomo, who announced last week that he tested positive for the virus, is now said to be recovering. But the younger brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo might not have been so lucky if “TDS” were considered a risk factor.
Question on CNN: Is Stage-4 TDS considered an underlying morbidity? ? pic.twitter.com/OIeg6YkznJ
— ALX ?? (@alx) April 10, 2020
During a town hall on Thursday, a CNN viewer who identified himself as James Fox posed the question “Is Stage-4 TDS considered an underlying morbidity?”
The abbreviation, for those unaware, is short for “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” which generally manifests as a mental neurosis rather than a respiratory ailment.
The question briefly appeared in the chyron below the screen during a discussion between anchor Anderson Cooper, health correspondent Sanjay Gupta and Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The three did not take up the question in their discussion, according to Fox News.
However, eagle-eyed media consumers who happened to land on CNN at that precise moment while flipping through the channels did not let it go unnoticed. Several let the network know via Twitter that it seemed fake even by CNN standards.
Conservative journalist Steve Krakauer, who once worked as a CNN producer, offered a bit more empathy, though.
As someone whose job it was at one point to put social media messages like these on the bottom of the @CNN screen during town halls, I feel bad for whoever let this one slip through… pic.twitter.com/O17f2ldn7Z
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) April 10, 2020
The debacle came on a particularly rough day for CNN, already dealing with frustration after Vice President Mike Pence had informed them he would not authorize other medical experts, including Coronavirus Task Force doctors Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci, to appear on the network unless it agreed to broadcast additional segments of the White House’s daily coronavirus press briefings.