This has been an important week in the Trump administration’s handling of the Coronavirus public health concern. Expressed in three words: Pence gags Fauci.
Earlier in the week of February 23, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci was scheduled to appear on five of the Sunday talk shows March 1.
Subsequently, February 26 Trump tapped Vice President Mike Pence to work with the CDC, NIH and other government agencies to coordinate U.S. response to the outbreak.
However, according to The New York Times on February 27, “The White House moved on Thursday to tighten control of coronavirus messaging by government health officials and scientists, directing them to coordinate all statements and public appearances with the office of Vice President Mike Pence, according to several officials familiar with the new approach.“
Pence’s office took over the control of the situation, and Pence told Fauci to “stand down, not to do those shows,'” Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) said, quoting Fauci. The result of this: Pence gags Fauci.
Pence — a know-nothing politician whose sole job is to protect Trump — a know-even-less President — silenced Fauci, one of the most respected and knowledgeable medical professionals we have in the public health arena.
The result of Pence’s gagging of Fauci is an absence of scientific information on five Sunday news-talk programs.
Previously, as the famously homophobic governor of Indiana, Pence helped to worsen one of the largest HIV outbreaks in the United States.
Furthermore, Pence also famously claimed there was no relationship between cigarette smoking and cancer — in a 2001 Congressional campaign communication posted to his campaign website, Pence wrote “smoking doesn’t kill.
However, Coronavirus Czar Pence spent Friday at a $25,000-a-plate dinner in sunny Sarasota raising money to try to win back the House, The Tampa Bay Times reported.