If you’re anything like me, when you watch this, you’ll be forced to marvel at the absolute insanity of the whole thing.
Dr. Robert R. Redfield, MD was a colonel in the US Army, has a distinguished career as a physician, medical researcher, and public health expert. One of his primary areas of experience and expertise is virology and immunology, and he has years of experience studying the treatment of infectious disease in clinical settings. He held a tenured professorship in the medical school of a highly-respected American university, and has served in numerous advisory roles to a wide range of federal government agencies. All that was before Donald Trump appointed him to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
In that role, Dr. Redfield recently advised a Senate panel that even with an optimistic vaccine timeline, the general public would not be inoculated until the summer or fall of 2021. He also told them that masks could be a more effective protection against COVID-19 than the vaccine. If it wasn’t clear from that paragraph above about his background, this guy isn’t just a doctor. He’s a respected virologist, a prominent expert on the clinical treatment of infectious disease, and the head of a government agency — chock-full of infectious disease experts — whose whole purpose is to protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease. That’s the guy who provided clear, concise, and well-informed answers to a Senate panel on the anticipated availability of a vaccine and on the medical efficacy of face masks.
After Redfield’s statements got considerable media attention, Donald Trump told reporters, “I believe he was confused” and insisted a vaccine could be available in weeks and go “immediately” to the general public. And he claimed (with usual Trump confidence) that a “vaccine is much more effective than the masks.”
I get that Trump’s supporters believe he’s a great leader. I get that they’re prepared to overlook his moral failings, that they don’t see him as a liar because it appears to them that the folks relentlessly accusing him of lying have an obvious axe to grind. Sure… that sort of thinking is evidence of a hyper-partisan commitment to the MAGA movement and as such defies some rationality and logic… I’m just saying I get it.
But what I don’t get — what’s absolutely breathtaking to me — is the idea that anyone believes Donald Trump when he stands in front of reporters and says with a straight face that Dr. Robert R. Redfield, MD “was confused.” Even if you like him, this is a guy who has had trouble pronouncing the word ‘Yosemite’ and who has said (on tape!) that his preference is to present a positive, optimistic outlook in his public statements about the pandemic (and that’s a generous read of his comments to Woodward). That guy, who happens to be running for re-election and therefor has a clear interest in presenting himself successfully leading national efforts to defeat the pandemic, is telling you to believe his own assessment instead of believing the “confused” official statements of the respected physician, virologist, and public health expert (that he appointed!).
I really do mean the word “breathtaking” — it literally takes my breath away when I try to wrap my head around the fact that anyone is inclined to believe Trump when they hear him say these things. Understanding how this guy is still a viable candidate for any public office either requires serious mental gymnastics or is cause for deep depression. (Or it’s both.)
Here’s my takeaway: There can’t be a better illustration of our country’s brokenness than watching John Berman and CNN be accused of unfairness, bias, and partisanship for pointing out that the director of the CDC, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, MD, is a reliable expert on vaccines and public health policy and that Donald J. Trump is not.