The New York Times attacked Mark Levin yesterday for speaking the truth about the real number of COVID-19 deaths:
When the coronavirus death toll in the United States passed 200,000 on Tuesday, matching projections made by White House experts this spring, many of the right-wing media personalities who had mocked the estimates as overblown were quiet.
The death toll, tracked by Johns Hopkins University and a New York Times database, is most likely an undercount, many public health experts believe. At least 266,000 more people have died in the United States during the pandemic than would have been the case during a typical year.
Mark Levin, the host of a syndicated radio show and a Fox News program, declared on Twitter on Wednesday that “THE U.S. DID NOT SURPASS 200,000 COVID-19 DEATHS.” As evidence, he cited data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that 94 percent of the reported deaths involved underlying health problems and that 6 percent of the people who died had no illness or medical condition other than Covid-19.
Mr. Levin was one of several popular radio hosts who have used the C.D.C. statistic to make a case that the pandemic death toll was inflated, a false claim that was also promoted by a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory and amplified by President Trump in a post that Twitter removed last month.
Health experts have repeatedly debunked that interpretation of the data. Earlier this month, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, tried to clear up any misconceptions during an appearance on “Good Morning America.”
Notice how they not only attack Levin for pointing out exactly what the CDC said, but also tie him to QAnon? This is a hit job if I ever saw one.
Levin fired back this morning:
I get so tired of these sleazy know-nothing “reporters” like the New York Times clown Tiffany Hsu. The CDC data is clear. I did not make it up. It states that 6% of the now over 200,000 of those who died of the coronavirus died just from the virus, while 94% had comorbidities — that is, 94% had life-threatening underlying issues such as severe heart disease, diabetes, etc. (The list of comorbidities is also provided by the CDC.) Obviously, 200,000 individuals did not die solely or even primarily from the coronavirus, but some subset of that number died from the coronavirus. That’s simple, basic logic based on what the CDC data reports. But for Tiffany Hsu and her employer, the New York Times, the 200,000 number is a milestone; it is just too politically significant to let a “right-wing radio star” dare to challenge. And, of course, she mentions QAnon in the same sentence, which I have absolutely no knowledge about and absolutely nothing to do with, just to create smoke, distract from the point, and attempt to denigrate me. It won’t work. But this is how the Holocaust-denying, 1619-project, anti-Semitic New York Times deals with a very serious topic. Moreover, Tiffany Hsu wouldn’t have known what I posted on my social sites but for the fact that she follows the Soros-connected Media Matters kook website, which took great offense at my post, given its war on the truth.
Tiffany Hsu also quotes Dr. Fauci (yes, the same man who has been wrong about models, data, masks, and the threat of the virus from early on), who did not generate this data but is the go-to guy for the media on all things. Fauci said: “That does not mean someone with hypertension or diabetes, who dies of COVID didn’t die of COVID-19, they did.” Now, think about what Fauci said. The CDC looked at every death certificate (approximately 180,000 at the time). Fauci didn’t look at anything but the same aggregated numbers the rest of us are looking at. And yet, his statement in no way supports the conclusion that every single one of the over 200,000 individuals who died, died as a result of the coronavirus. It is an absurdly misleading statement. Where is his “scientific evidence” for such a conclusion. There is none. Tiffany Hsu, her employer, and too many others who pretend to be reporters rather than advocates have no idea either. Then she further stretches and quotes a South Carolina health office that draws the same conclusion as Fauci. That’s it. That’s the best she can do to attempt to counter the undeniable facts and only rational conclusion — that to say over 200,000 people have died from the coronavirus is factually and scientifically false. Folks, this is a matter of basic facts versus propaganda. It says a lot that a hack for the New York Times, would follow the lead of a radical leftwing website, which publishes trash all the time, rather than honestly approach the data and the science. You can draw your own conclusions but it seems obvious to me.
This piece by Tiffany Hsu is the same kind of garbage we’ve been getting from Facebook and the reason they crippled my page. Even if someone like Levin quotes directly from what top sources have said, like the CDC, he’s accused of misinterpreting the data and smeared because of it. These self-appointed arbitrators of the truth want to destroy the reputations of people on the right so that people won’t listen to them anymore and future Donald Trump’s won’t get elected.
That’s what this is really about.