CNBC's Rick Santelli Proposes Dangerous Idea: Infect Everyone With Coronavirus
CNBC editor Rick Santelli sparked anger after suggesting on live television that “we’d just be better off” if everyone were deliberately infected with the coronavirus “and then in a month it would be over.”
Santelli, speaking about the effect the outbreak was having on global stock markets on Thursday’s broadcast of “The Exchange,” acknowledged “I’m not a doctor, I’m not a doctor” before delivering his proposal:
Think about how the world would be if you tried to quarantine everybody because of the generic-type flu. Now, I’m not saying this is the generic-type flu, but maybe we’d just be better off if we gave it [the coronavirus] to everybody and then in a month it would be over, because the mortality rate of this probably isn’t going to be any different if we did it that way than the long-term picture. But the difference is we’re wreaking havoc on global and domestic economies.
Check out the video here:
Rick Santelli on @CNBC
Maybe we should give EVERYONE #coronavirus so we can get it "over with"
Unbelievable. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/1Gu8qKCDl7— Jerrie (@CerrieJerrie) March 5, 2020
More than 3,300 deaths worldwide have been attributed to the outbreak, with 12 in the U.S.
Critics on Twitter called on CNBC to fire Santelli, whose 2009 diatribe on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange against President Barack Obama’s proposed bailout for homeowners reportedly inspired the launch of the tea party movement.
Seriously, @CNBC should shitcan Rick Santelli. Today he advocated infecting the entire nation deliberately with COVID so as to "get it over with" for the sake of the economy. With a 3.4% mortality rate, that would mean 11 million deaths. Even if only 2%, it would mean over 6m.
— Tim Wise (@timjacobwise) March 5, 2020
The Galaxy Brain, flaming hot, most idiotic take of the year.
CNBC's Rick Santelli goes off on one saying everyone should get infected with #Coronavirus right now to "get it over with" and limit the impact on the global economy.
Madness.pic.twitter.com/lAei3ZfLeL— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) March 6, 2020
wacky libertarian responses to coronavirus have stretched from robin hanson's "get some people infected early" to rick santelli's "let's get everyone infected now"
— Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) March 5, 2020
On the stupid vs. evil axis, Rick Santelli somehow manages to shatter the scale at both ends simultaneously. https://t.co/qgK62kmvfx
— Darcy James Argue (@darcyjamesargue) March 6, 2020
This commentary by Rick Santelli is despicable. Let’s give it to him, his family and his neighbors. What would he say then? https://t.co/W2qvaB7V0t
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) March 6, 2020
Rick Santelli, please infect yourself first. Thanks. Clown. https://t.co/bKccaOHAPY
— Matt Patterson (@mattpatterson_) March 6, 2020
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
