The dangers of Trump TV: MSNBC host hammers Fox News as 'genuine public health threat' amid pandemic

Tuesday night, Fox News decided that all anyone needed to do is to pump Americans with a Malaria drug and send them back to work to save President Donald Trump's economy.

Speaking Wednesday night, MSNBC host Chris Hayes bashed the conservative network for downplaying the seriousness of coronavirus, saying that they are "a genuine public health threat."

While Trump has advisers like Dr. Anthony Fauci, he also has the unofficial advisers he sees on Fox News.

They "are coalescing around the idea the whole thing is just overblown and we need to pump everyone full of the malaria drug and get them back to work. This is what you heard if you watch trump tv just last night," Hayes said. He then played clips illustrating exactly that, with hosts ranting and raving about the virus not being as serious as the flu.

"Is it really true that the reason that we're beginning to think that we're turning a corner is because we all did what the doctors said we should do or is it because the disease turned out to not be quite as dangerous as we thought?" asked Brit Hume.

Hayes was quick to fact-check the claim.

"The disease not as dangerous as we thought? It's got a 3.4 percent fatality rate here in the U.S. Ten percent in Italy. that we know of. More than 14,000 American have died from this disease in the last few weeks. More people are dying from it every day in New York than died total on any day in New York in a normal day but sure, not a big deal," he said.

Hayes noted that from the very beginning "Fox News posed a genuine public health threat" because they refused to take the virus seriously on their air. Meanwhile, their studios were cleaned and precautions were being put in place to keep staff safe from the virus. If Fox hosts are so dismissive of the virus, why aren't they seen out and about? Why aren't they shaking hands and signing autographs?

"People have been trying to convince their loved ones not to listen to the dangerously false information in order for their loved ones to stay safe," said Hayes. "One of those people is co-founder and editor at large Kara Swisher."

In her recent piece for the New York Times, Swisher wrote about trying to get her mother to understand the seriousness of the virus. She explained that her brother is a frontline doctor dealing with the virus every day and has seen the seriousness of the situation.

"I mean, what they are trying to do is they had very bad info information on the air, something my brother and I try to get my mom great information," said Swisher. "So one of the problems was we were pushing up against the stuff being broadcast very early on by Fox News. Much of which was highly dangerous and so I wrote a column about it. One of the things I think they sort of went crazy about, the fact that I pointed out what a lot of people are experiencing with their parents who only use Fox News to get their news. My mom looks at other news, of course, she does but it has a lot of influence because she was repeating, 'it's just like the flu. Get back to work. It's not a big deal. It's a Democratic plot.' All the talking points that were on there she was repeating to me so it took a while for us to get through to her she had to stay home."

Watch the full interview below: