Trump aide quits:
Dr. Scott Atlas, the ex- Stanford radiologist who advised the president on the virus, steps down.
WASHINGTON — Dr. Scott Atlas, the former Stanford University radiologist who espoused controversial theories and rankled government scientists while advising President Trump on the coronavirus pandemic, resigned his White House position Monday.
The move was not entirely unexpected. Atlas joined the White House in August as a special government employee for a limited term after he caught Trump’s eye with his frequent appearances on Fox News over the summer. Atlas’ term was set to expire this week.
“I worked hard with a singular focus — to save lives and help Americans through this pandemic,” Atlas wrote in a letter that he posted Monday night on Twitter. “I always relied on the latest science and evidence, without any political consideration or influence.” Fox News earlier reported his resignation.
But some of Atlas’ Trump administration colleagues would most likely disagree, citing views starkly different from those put forth by officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by other government scientists. Atlas has argued, for example, that the science of mask wearing is uncertain and that children cannot spread the coronavirus.
Even more contentious was his libertarian vision of the role of the government in the pandemic. In Atlas’ view, the government’s job was not to stamp out the virus but simply to protect its most vulnerable citizens
as COVID19 took its course.
His argument was that most people infected with the virus would not get seriously ill, and at some point enough people would have antibodies from COVID19 to deprive the virus of carriers — socalled herd immunity. Atlas also railed against anything that smacked of a lockdown or business closure.
Public health experts warned that his ideas were dangerous
and would have disastrous results. But that did not stop Atlas. In November, he called on people in Michigan to “rise up” against restrictions. The state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who had faced death threats and a thwarted kidnapping attempt over the restrictions, denounced him as “incredibly reckless.”
Inside the administration, Atlas clashed in particular with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s
top infectious disease specialist, and Dr. Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator.
But Atlas had the ear of the one person who mattered: Trump.
“He has many great ideas,” the president told reporters in August at a White House briefing.