Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, on Sunday rebuked government officials who’ve “parroted” President Trump and others in his administration by flouting public health guidance as the country records more than 281,000 deaths from COVID-19.During an interview on “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, Birx was asked whether public officials are thinking that the warnings she’s issued throughout the year are “overselling it,” given how Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly flouted measures that would help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
“I think it’s really important that every single person understands that the way this virus is spread is if you’re with anyone indoors without a mask, that’s a viral spreading opportunity,”
The urgency of your concern is duly noted and it’s too late. Look to “Dr.” Atlas to see where your future is headed.
p.s. Instead of using a mask, have you tried using bleach and UV lights?
Whatever we may think of her choices we were NOT in the position she was in. I am not sure what a heroic firing and having her replaced with more Dr Atlas types would have accomplished except a pat on the back. Her career will take the damage and consequences of her choice, but I think its a little too easy as an outsider to make snide comments.
As other people have written, this is too late. Why is it too late? Because we just had an election, during which to all appearances the GOP paid zero political price for this catastrophe. As a result, they will remain in charge in many states and districts, have veto power in Congress, and maintain a president who is a cult figure capable of mobilizing their voters. At a certain point, Dr. Birx needed to recognize that the GOP has catalyzed this pandemic, and say so publicly. That may have saved many lives. Patiently allowing herself to be contradicted by the howling lies of the GOP played into their hands.
Not until she directly criticizes Trump, which will never happen. She’s ex-military and Trump is her superior officer. She’s programmed to avoid directly challenging him. Fauci avoids that too, but it’s less of a knee-jerk instinct than with Birx. She needs to go.
Congress doesn’t have veto power, the President does.
Nope, Trump will diminish and fade into nothingness, politically. He is going to be waging war against the GOP now, causing them more damage and internal strife. That is where his main grievance lies, as he made clear last night in GA.
Unfortunately for her, people who take the coronavirus seriously have tuned her out, preferring to listen to people like Dr. Fauci instead, and those who disregard the virus as a threat or consider it a hoax, won’t listen to her. So she’s in a box of her own making, because instead of taking a strong stance when it could have made a difference, she instead tried to thread the needle down the middle. That obviously doesn’t work with a highly contagious virus.
Instead of Trump, perhaps Birx could be compared to a tragic figure in mythology. She does, in fact, possess redeeming qualities.
Dr Birx cannot be forgiven for how she defended Trump. It’s one thing to refuse to call him out or flatly contradict him. But to say obvious falsehoods such as him being a very keen listener, etc. was too far. She gave him cover at a time he should hav even ostracized.
Look, if you don’t think a GOP Senate can strangle (or ‘veto’) any democratic initiative in its cradle, I suggest you watch some tape from any legislative session since 2010, or perhaps the tape of Merrick Garland’s confirmation hearing (trick question: of course there was no hearing). And if you also think that Trumpist grievance politics is going away, then I would submit you are not paying attention to how many people are being convinced that is victory was stolen from him. Sadly, and more likely than not, the GOP will ride that same anger to victory in gerrymandered elections and even statewide elections for years to come.
Belgium, which was one of the hotspots in Europe still in November, provides a good example of how just three weeks of joint, concerted, coordinated basic public health measures can defeat the second wave. Sadly, the numbers of daily covid deaths lag the new case numbers, so still brutal. America could give itself the greatest Christmas present ever if we would all just act like Belgium did for the next three weeks.
“Birx did not call out the Trump administration, but emphasized the importance of understanding the dire situation the country is in with surging COVID-19 cases.”
