President Trump twice retweeted a video of his supporters angrily confronting a local news reporter on Long Island who was harassed while ...
President Trump twice retweeted a video of his supporters angrily confronting a local news reporter on Long Island who was harassed while covering an anti-lockdown protest.
'Great people!' the president wrote in his tweet sharing video of the incident from Thursday.
Kevin Vesey, a reporter for the television station News 12 Long Island, was taunted and scorned by protesters in the Suffolk County town of Commack on Thursday who were waving pro-Trump flags and holding signs slamming Governor Andrew Cuomo and the stay-at-home orders.
Hundreds of protesters gathered on Jericho Turnpike in Commack on Thursday after seeing a Facebook event organized by the Setauket Patriots, a right-wing organization that supports the president.
‘Who is King Cuomo to tell a business owner they can't be open? Or that you have to wear a mask when you walk into his store?’ one protester told News 12.
The level of anger directed at the media from these protestors was alarming. As always, I will tell a fair and unbiased story today.
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Kevin Vesey (left), a News 12 Long Island reporter, posted video from a rally in Commack, New York, on Thursday. Supporters of President Trump are seen berating him as 'fake news.' One of them (right) kept approaching him without a mask while Vesey asked him to back away
‘I think you need to back away,’ Vesey told one protester, a man who appeared in his 40s or 50s wearing a Trump t-shirt and a red baseball cap. ‘I’ve got hydroxychloroquine, I’m fine,’ the man said as he continued to approach Vesey
The protesters demanded an end to the lockdown and a restarting of the economy
Video of the demonstrators confronting the reporter went viral on social media. It was twice retweeted by President Trump
'People can't get enough of this,' the president tweeted on Saturday. 'Great people!'
Vesey realized that his posts were being shared by Trump. ‘And just like that, I’ve been retweeted by the President,’ Vesey tweeted late on Friday
Vesey then tweeted on Saturday morning: ‘Ok, now I’ve been retweeted TWICE by President Trump. ‘This video has really struck a chord’
But the rally generated significant social media attention because of the anger directed at the reporter, Vesey.
The news report and videos later posted on social media show several of the protesters – most of them without face coverings – berate Vesey by repeating many of Trump’s frequent criticisms of the press.
Vesey’s video shows protesters breaking social distancing guidelines as they started to approach him so as to prevent him from filing a report through Facebook Live.
‘I think you need to back away,’ Vesey told one protester, a man who appeared in his 40s or 50s wearing a Trump t-shirt and a red baseball cap.
‘The level of anger directed at the media from these protesters was alarming,’ Vesey tweeted
Several of the protesters were not wearing masks or observing social distancing guidelines
Several of them criticized him for the media's coverage of Trump
This protester said she saw through the media's 'liberal agenda'
Several of the protesters held signs denouncing Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert
‘I’ve got hydroxychloroquine, I’m fine,’ the man said as he continued to approach Vesey.
‘I’m just standing here [and] this guy will not get away from me,’ Vesey said as he livestreamed the event.
Kevin Vesey's news report covering the protest in Commack on Thursday went viral
Vesey then turns to the man and says: ‘Can you back away?’
‘No,’ the man replies.
Hydroxychloroquine is the anti-malaria drug treatment touted by Trump and his supporters as a possible treatment of COVID-19.
Health and medical experts, however, said that studies have shown the drug either has no effect on COVID-19 patients or can even cause serious complications and side effects.
Another protester at the rally who was wearing a face covering held a megaphone and started to approach Vesey.
‘Why are you [in the news media] essential?’ she yelled into the megaphone. ‘Why?’
Another woman with a megaphone and no face covering told Vesey: ‘You like to paint us as if we are a danger [while we are] outside.’
One of the protesters in Commack is seen wearing a Trump mask on Thursday
The protesters were gathered at Jericho Turnpike in Commack. The image above shows a motorcyclist driving past the demonstrations
Several of the protesters were waving American flags and wearing face masks in Commack on Thursday
The area was cordoned off by police from the Suffolk County Police Department
The event was organized on Facebook by a group known as the Setauket Patriots
Another protester holds an American flag in one hand and a sign in the other that reads 'God is essential'
Many of the protesters gathered on a narrow sidewalk adjacent to Jericho Turnpike in Commack on Thursday
Several trucks with American flags attached to them are seen above as protesters gather nearby
Protesters hold signs that read 'All jobs are essential' and 'Stop the spread of tyranny' in Commack on Thursday
Another sign reads 'Save Our Suffolk! Open it up now!' in Commack on Thursday
Another protester accused Vesey and the press of portraying them as ‘murderers’ for being outdoors.
Vesey later posted a video on Twitter showing the demonstrators not adhering to social distancing while gathered on the narrow sidewalk.
One woman without a mask confronted Vesey, telling him: ‘You shouldn’t be here. You’re fake news.’
‘You stopped airing the Trump briefings and you’re airing the Cuomo briefings,’ the woman said.
The woman was referring to the White House coronavirus task force press briefings that were discontinued by the Trump administration after the president’s advisers noticed that they were causing him more damage politically.‘Go home. You’re fake news.’
Trump’s briefings on the coronavirus made headlines after the president made bizarre claims like the possibility of using bleach disinfectant to treat COVID-19.
Trump later claimed he was being sarcastic.
Cuomo’s daily briefings on the coronavirus have been aired nationally on news networks, including Fox News and others.
The New York governor, a Democrat, has seen his popularity rise as the public credits him for his updates that some say project a calm style of leadership.
Cuomo this week extended the state’s lockdown until the end of May, though the governor did allow nonessential businesses in parts of New York State to gradually reopen after the regions met the criteria.
But the shutdown does not appear to be ending anytime soon in downstate New York, particularly in hard-hit areas like New York City, Nassau County, and Suffolk County, where Thursday’s protest took place.
Another protester shouted at Vesey: ‘You are the enemy of the people!’
Another woman said she was aware of the reporter’s ‘liberal agenda.’
A man walked by and said: ‘You used to be a good channel. I don’t know what happened to you.’
Another protester taunted the reporter, saying: ‘You’re a hack!’
The Setauket Patriots later issued an apology to Vesey, saying that those who chased him did not represent the organization.
‘We can tell you that the few who decided to harass you and try to prevent you from doing your job are not members or affiliated with the Setauket Patriots group in any way shape or form,’ the group said.
‘We were looking forward to you giving us fair coverage with what you've documented when we first arrived.
‘But as with all mass rally events you will always get a few idiots to disrupt an otherwise peaceful pleasant demonstration and they should have been removed by police.’
No arrests were made at the rally.
Vesey’s social media posts showing the videos went viral. They were viewed and shared hundreds of thousands of times over the course of Thursday and Friday.
Trump himself twice retweeted the videos.
In one caption, the president wrote in all caps: ‘FAKE NEWS IS NOT ESSENTIAL!’
In the other caption, Trump wrote: ‘People can’t get enough of this. Great people!’
Vesey realized that his posts were being shared by Trump.
‘And just like that, I’ve been retweeted by the President,’ Vesey tweeted late on Friday.
Vesey then tweeted on Saturday morning: ‘Ok, now I’ve been retweeted TWICE by President Trump.
‘This video has really struck a chord.’
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