Begala: ‘Knuckle-Dragging Nincompoops on Right’ Are ‘Lying to People’ About COVID

Former Clinton adviser and CNN political commentator Paul Begala said Wednesday on CNN’s “Newsroom” that President Joe Biden needs to use his upcoming coronavirus pandemic speech to combat “all these knuckle-dragging nincompoops on right-wing media who are lying to people.”

Anchor Ana Cabrera said, “President Biden is not polling well right now. His approval rating has dipped below 50%. More Americans think he hasn’t been communicating clearly about the coronavirus response. Paul, how important is this upcoming speech in order to gain back the confidence of the American people?”

Begala said, “It’s very important. The president needs to use that bully pulpit. A great deal of information that’s out there is misinformation, disinformation, all these knuckle-dragging nincompoops on right wing-media who are lying to people. The president’s got to be very, very clear. I do think his administration’s messaging in the main has been quite strong. On this question of boosters, if they were as clear as Dr. Wen, we’d be in much better shape. Also, what we can do for our kids. you know, you fight fear with facts. If he lays out these facts, that will do him a lot of good.”

He added, “You have to begin with the people who are doing the right things, the sort of medically informed people, which is the vast majority of Americans, and then it can radiate out from that. I think that when you look at specifics, I’ve looked at a lot of polling data too, specific jobs or specific places, people do support mandates, not just mask mandates but vaccine mandates.”

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