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Geraldo Rivera blasts 'scumbag' critics for 'exacerbating' coronavirus fear
By Victor Garcia
Published February 28, 2020
Geraldo Rivera slammed Democrats and members of the media for using the coronavirus outbreak to promote "fear" and hurt President Trump, calling those people "scumbags."
"Anyone who exacerbates the fear, the real epidemic of fear -- which is the real epidemic, not the virus yet in this country -- is, like I said, like a gutter feeding ... scumbag," Rivera said on "The Five."
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Later in the segment, Rivera quoted former President Franklin Roosevelt's first inaugural address, given in 1933.
"Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," Roosevelt said. "Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror, which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
"What we have now are politicians feeding fear," Rivera said. "Politicians, for their own temporary advantage, to cut the president in any way they can. To distinguish themselves from their rivals in this, in this Democratic catfight."
Trump called out CNN's coverage Friday while talking to reporters.
"I think that CNN is a very disreputable network. I think they're doing everything they can to instill fear in people and I think it's ridiculous," Trump said. "Some of the Democrats are doing it the way it should be. But some of them are trying to gain political favor."
Earlier Friday, the top story on CNN’s website declared that Trump was hoping for a “miracle to make virus disappear” and said Trump’s comments were “divorced from the gravity of the coronavirus situation [and] only fanned the impression of a leadership vacuum.”
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Rivera asked Americans to "reject" those who are stoking the worry.
"Anyone who is exacerbating the unease that the American people feel, shame on them, reject them, reject them," Rivera said.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/geraldo-rivera-blasts-scumbag-critics-coronavirus-fear