The Washington Post’s Philip Bump can’t help but be struck by the “sudden push to identify the coronavirus as coming from China”:

Why the sudden push to identify the coronavirus as coming from China? In part, it seems, as a geopolitical hedge. Also, in part, to deflect blame away from the administration. https://t.co/QoPzEUST4T — Philip Bump (@pbump) March 10, 2020

Don’t bother bringing up that COVID19 originated in China … Philip doesn’t want to hear it:

If your response to this tweet is, "BECAUSE IT CAME FROM CHINA," the point is that linking it to China has become a clear strategy recently, which it wasn't before. — Philip Bump (@pbump) March 10, 2020

Pointing out that COVID19 originated in China is a strategy?

Then why did you delete it, you miserable hack? — It's still 2016 apparently (@jtLOL) March 10, 2020

Good question. If Philip stands behind his take, why would he try to memory-hole these?

Maybe Philip thought that by deleting his tweets, he’d avoid having to explain himself.

He thought wrong.

It was called the "Wuhan virus" from the beginning. It's linked to China because that's how cause and effect work. https://t.co/4bQdfMPj32 — It's still 2016 apparently (@jtLOL) March 10, 2020

It is because in the past two weeks the Chinese government has actively been encouraging conspiracy theories that blame the virus on the United States. Also, it is the term the media used for two months back when China was admitting the virus originated in Wuhan. https://t.co/BCja6ndoJP — Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) March 10, 2020

Reasons why people do it: Because it originated in China (Wuhan specifically), because basically every media outlet called it the Wuhan coronavirus or some variant almost immediately, &, yes, because it makes the Chinese Communist Party (which is still lying about the virus) mad. https://t.co/HddVY8Lrpr — JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) March 10, 2020

Virus originated in China. Beijing has done a massive propaganda push to stop this fact from being emphasized, and our media has fallen for it. https://t.co/LkhNbEILiq — Erielle Davidson (@politicalelle) March 10, 2020

Hold up, Erielle. Not so fast:

Weird. Bump deleted that one, too. Almost like the “insight” in his article is that while the Chinese government wants to shift the focus away from itself and onto America, they’re kind of justified because the virus is in America now.

Sometimes it is easy to predict which articles will spur extremely stupid responses. Sometimes it's a surprise! — Philip Bump (@pbump) March 10, 2020

What’s not surprising is that Philip would try to save face by deleting that tweet, too.

Maybe the problem is with the article, Philip.

The change is not in the identifying (as amply evidenced by numerous headlines) but in the push back against so identifying. Perhaps it would be a better use of time to explore why the pushback suddenly originated and the possible political motives for that? — Andrew (@andyndelaney) March 10, 2020

That would indeed be a better use of Philip’s time. But the MSM have a new narrative to protect and perpetuate, so don’t hold your breath.