Trump’s agenda shoved scientists aside; they’re pushing back
After months of being sidelined or outright attacked by President Donald Trump, a growing number of government scientists and physicians are pushing back against the president’s political agenda when it comes to the pandemic.
The Food and Drug Administration issued beefed-up safety standards for a vaccine in September, making the president’s push for a vaccine before Election Day all but impossible. After initially acquiescing to the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed controversial guidelines that had called for less testing for individuals exposed to the novel coronavirus who showed no symptoms.
And Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator who no longer sees Trump regularly, travels the country urging state and local officials to adopt mask mandates, close down bars and restrict large gatherings — measures antithetical to Trump’s contention that the virus has been defeated and people should return to their lives.
The officials taking these stands have been emboldened by a worsening pandemic, an adrift White House and growing indications that Trump’s first term may be his last, say several administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“We’re really fighting to get the right information out and to get people to understand what needs to be done,” said one senior health agency official who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “None of us at the agencies are wavering on that, I can assure you. We’re definitely at a place where we know what we want to do, we know how we’re going to do it, and we’re going to stick to it.”
Several administration officials described an unfocused White House, saying the coronavirus task force has fewer meetings, and Trump spends little time now thinking about how to handle the virus — instead mocking it at political rallies. Many of the administration’s top doctors, including Birx, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams, are beside themselves over the growing influence of presidential adviser Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist with no infectious-disease experience whose disputed views about herd immunity have gained currency with Trump, the officials said.
Birx has argued fiercely with Atlas in task force meetings, disputing his assertions of a receding threat from the pandemic by bringing charts and graphs demonstrating otherwise, according to two people familiar with the situation who requested anonymity to reveal private discussions. She has also insisted that the scientists Atlas often cites are outliers on issues ranging from masks to whether herd immunity is an effective strategy.
The White House insisted Trump continues to listen to all of his medical and health advisers.
“President Trump relies on the advice and counsel of all of his top health officials every day and any suggestion that their role is being diminished is just false,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere.
With the election days away, scientists and agency heads are also focused on trying to preserve the integrity of their agencies during a potentially unstable and critical lame-duck period — and in some cases burnish their own tarnished reputations for a post-Trump era, say agency insiders and outside experts.
The scientists’ efforts to set their own agendas could be short-lived, however. Many of the people overseeing the pandemic response are expected to change even if Trump wins reelection. CDC Director Robert Redfield is likely to leave, or be asked to resign shortly after the election, no matter the result, according to several senior administration officials. He has always said he planned to step down at the end of this term, regardless of the election’s outcome.
Rumors are also rife that FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn may be asked to leave, and the future of their direct boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, remains uncertain if Trump were to win. Some senior scientists are also considering a departure if Trump is reelected, according to officials who talked on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue.
How big a difference the scientists’ pushbacks make in the larger pandemic response is unclear. Some public health officials say the changes have been too little, too late — and fall far short of repairing the erosion of public trust caused by a White House that has devalued scientific expertise during a pandemic that has claimed more than 228,000 lives in the United States.