Trump calls Birx ‘pathetic’ for virus warnings
President Donald Trump took aim at the coronavirus task force’s coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, on Monday, slamming her as “pathetic” for raising alarm about coronavirus resurgences sweeping across most parts of the country.
In a tweet, Trump suggested Birx is only voicing concern about the new outbreaks because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalif.,
recently criticized her for being overly optimistic about the pandemic’s trajectory.
“So Crazy Nancy Pelosi said horrible things about Dr. Deborah Birx, going after her because she was too positive on the very good job we are doing on combatting the China Virus, including Vaccines & Therapeutics,” Trump tweeted, using a term for COVID-19 many consider racist. “In order to counter Nancy, Deborah took the bait & hit us. Pathetic!”
Trump’s broadside was directed at remarks Birx made Sunday on CNN.
In the appearance, Birx warned that the virus is spreading faster and more aggressively than it did at the outset of the pandemic in March and April.
“It is extraordinarily widespread,” she said. “It’s into the rural as equal urban areas. To everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus.”
Birx also urged Americans across the country to wear face masks as much as possible.
Pelosi did not back up Birx on Monday.
“She has enabled (him),” the speaker said on CNN after Trump’s Twitter assault. “I don’t have confidence in anyone who stands there while the president says ‘Swallow Lysol and it’s going to cure your virus.’ ”
More than 155,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 — by far the worst national death toll in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.