David Frum

Never Trump writer David Frum just lost it during an attack on President Donald Trump on Twitter on Monday night.

Frum was attacking Trump for calling the Wuhan coronavirus a “Chinese Virus.” Trump was calling it that because that’s where it originated but also to counter the propaganda campaign by the Chinese communist government to deny that fact, even blame the United States for its origination.

Frum argued, wrongly, that no one tied the disease name to the place of origin anymore.

Nobody calls the 1919-20 pandemic the Spanish flu anymore, and not because we are soft on the Inquisition. It's just not a useful way to name a disease. — David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2020

First of all, no one calls the Spanish Flu the “1919 pandemic” not only because the public always uses a colloquial name, but also because it started in 1918, although in that particular instance it may not have originated in Spain.

Yes, everyone calls it the Spanish flu.

Spanish flu killed more people than any pandemic disease before or since, including the Black Death, the AIDS epidemic or Ebola. https://t.co/JYqX417I3g — HISTORY (@HISTORY) August 24, 2019

CNN’s Dan Merica.

Yang rally attendees yell MATH, applaud any mention of PowerPoint & chant about the Spanish Flu of 1918. One-hundred year old pandemics are rarely mentioned at political rallies, but events with Yang are anything but standard. https://t.co/mJdHaEF7Rz https://t.co/zyrwzkYapE — Dan Merica (@merica) September 30, 2019

Obama Ebola Czar (notice name: Ebola for the Ebola river, near where it originated).

It’s the 100th anniversary of the deadliest event in US history — the Spanish Flu of 1918. Could it happen again? My in-depth thoughts: https://t.co/9CgLe2NI3m — Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) October 15, 2018

FYI: After WWI ended, 100 years ago today, a scattered epidemic of the Spanish Flu became a pandemic, as millions of soldiers shipped home, spreading the disease internationally, killing an additional 50-million people worldwide. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 11, 2018

Bill Gates.

I had hoped that hitting the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu would spark a lot of discussion about whether we’re ready for the next global epidemic. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and we still are not ready. — Bill Gates (@BillGates) December 30, 2018

And whoops, even David Frum.

But in the process of his argument, Frum put out a disgusting smear of Trump, suggesting Trump used the term “yellow peril.”

The reason sensible people resist Trump's urging to call coronavirus "China infection" or "Yellow Peril" or whatever name he's test-marketing tonight is that it's just TOO BLINKING OBVIOUS that his purpose is to redirect attention from his failure to do his job competently. — David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2020

First, Trump never turned his back on the Hong Kong protesters. Indeed, he was celebrated by them for coming to their defense and signing a bill in support of them.

“Yellow Peril,” historically refers to a racist fear of Chinese coming into the United States and taking jobs. Trump never used the term, never said anything even close, Frum was pulling the term out of his own head so perhaps it says something about him.

Frum is attempting to smear Trump while walking in step with Chinese propaganda as they attack the United States. Maybe he should look to his own behavior?

Nobody calls the 2003-2011 Iraq war the Bush-Frum disaster anymore, and not because we are soft on incompetence. It’s just not a useful way to name a fiasco. https://t.co/Dzju6Ir1eI — Chris Arnade (@Chris_arnade) March 17, 2020

Trump never called coronavirus "Yellow Peril", and you're a piece of shit, David. Are you not actually good for anything? While we all sit in our homes and think about mortality, I wonder if you've every considered what the point of you is? https://t.co/5hymLiSAXL — Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) March 17, 2020

Nobody is convinced that “a Chinese virus” sounds racist so let’s take the term “Yellow Peril,” put some quotation marks around it, and pretend Trump said that. https://t.co/IssS7n6cAz — Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) March 17, 2020

HT: Twitchy