MSNBC anchor Brian Williams delivered a sarcastic monologue during a Friday night broadcast in response to former talk show host Geraldo Rivera’s praise of President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
During an appearance on Fox & Friends, Rivera suggested that the new coronavirus vaccine be named “the Trump.”
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“Have you gotten your ‘Trump’ yet?” Rivera said with a laugh. “It would be a nice gesture to him and years from now it would become just a kind of generic name. ‘Have you got your Trump yet? Yeah, I got my Trump. I’m fine.'”
Rivera continued to say that it would honor him as the “prime architect of this operation warp speed.”
The camera then cut to Williams who stated, “You know, for my money, Geraldo raises a good point there. It’s possible we just don’t give the president enough credit for his FDR like devotion to tackling this virus.”
Williams then delivered a sarcastic, dry-humored, and ironic narration. While he was speaking, a photo montage with pictures of President Trump on the golf course during the pandemic and pictures of the president removing his face mask, played in the background.
“His laser-like focus, his daily devotion, the sympathy he’s forever expressing to the families of the quarter million dead. Even the way the president lectures us in that way to please wear a mask and stop the spread. And he’s always advocated injections,” Williams said.
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“Geraldo may be on to something! What Trump Steaks did for the hungry. What Trump water did for the thirsty in our nation. What Trump University did to lift up the uneducated in our country.”
An image of Trump’s face appeared on a glass vial as Williams ended the broadcast. “Well, along comes ‘Trump: The Vaccine.’ Possibilities I think you’ll agree are endless.”
Twitter users reacted positively to the anchor’s remarks. Lindy Li called Williams’s mockery a “masterclass in throwing shade.” Jason Anderson admitted to not caring for Williams’s “smugness” in the past but commended him for putting it “to great use here.”
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