Birx on Trump's disinfectant proposal for Covid: 'I didn't know how to handle that episode'
By: David K. Li (NBC News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
March 16, 2021, 4:31 PM UTC By David K. Li
Dr. Deborah Birx said Monday that military protocol prevented her from publicly questioning then-President Donald Trump's dubious suggestion that injections of disinfectant could fight Covid-19.
In a moment that came to symbolize the Trump administration's pandemic response, Birx struggled to hold a poker face in April 2020 when the president told reporters that disinfectants and "ultraviolet or just a very powerful light" could be used to treat coronavirus patients.
"You can see how extraordinarily uncomfortable I was," Birx said in a new interview with ABC News.
A former U.S. Army physician, Birx said she's long been trained not to show up a commander, no matter how outlandish a statement was being made.
"I have spent almost 30 years in the military. I worked for every president from Jimmy Carter up and through President Bush," she said. "Those of you who have served in the military know that there are discussions you have in private with your commanding officers and there's discussions you had in public."
She added: "Frankly, I didn't know how to handle that episode. I still think about it every day."
At no time, Birx said, did she think about correcting Trump at the moment.
"But I was just not trained in my years ... to react that way," she said. "I think maybe if someone didn't have the military training that I had, maybe they would have reacted differently."
When interviewer Terry Moran asked Birx if she shares any of the blame for the nation's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, the doctor said she and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, did their best within parameters of the Trump White House.
"I think all of us, whether you're a civil servant like myself and Dr. Fauci or a political appointee, I can't tell you how many discussions we had on how do we get the messaging out, realizing what's happening at the most senior levels of the White House," she said.
About 536,000 Americans have died from the virus as of Tuesday, according to a running tally by NBC News.
U.S. fatalities from Covid-19 represent about 20 percent of the known global death toll, despite having just 4.25 percent of the world population.
David K. Li is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
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What hell it must have been for Birx and Fauci working under that moron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Poor Dr. Fauci probably has bruises from facepalming so often.
birx and fauci have both basically admitted that they couldn't speak to any media outlets without trump's pre-approval... which makes the xenophobe's hair on fire reaction over the restriction of info from the border even more hilarious. republicans = hypocrites and morons.
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truly does Escape Thee, but can't be wiped away via CL R and the go p
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whining bout Juan, cause he is a Pro Con Vic t, and yes, i may be possibly convinced, he is a pro Convict in need of more convictions, and other assordid
derelictions
And yet, some people prefer to attack Dr. Fauci over the handling or information surrounding Covid. Go figure.
So from what I get , she is saying basically president trump abused his power. WOW what a shocker.... LMAO really trump ?
LOL na... ? Say it ain't so. sarc
I wonder if trump's comments and actions IF honestly investigated would show that this one man's dismissal of the virus early on contributed to the amount of death in America from this virus ?
If so, I would not be one bit surprised.
trump chose to not even acknowledge this deadly virus until he was backed into a corner.
So sad that a United States president would put HIS reelection over the lives of the people he was elected to protect,
Simply sad as Hell and IMO: Totally disqualifies this asshole from ever even trying to hold political office again. ... Not even considering HOW trump tried NOT to leave office.
It's not just that he tried not to acknowledge it. When he did acknowledge it, his ignorance and lack of intellectual curiosity played out in public for all to see. He claimed that "people are really surprised I understand this stuff", when it was quite obvious he hadn't a clue about the basics of how viruses, treatments for viruses, or vaccines worked. It was, or should have been, clear to everyone that the US President was too ignorant to fathom just how ignorant he was.
so sad but so true.
and for fartoo many, apparently a rule
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Sure, sure. Brilliant people always suggest injecting disinfectant into folks' veins.
True. The Man Residing In Mar-a-Lago also said, "I'm like a really smart guy" and "I've got the biggest brain."
There it is. There you have it. A spade straight flush to the Queen.
This is the problem. People sycophantically praising Trump as the smartest guy in the room. Trump relied upon gullibility for votes. I see no way that he will achieve that level of gullibility in the future. Most people have wised up. Good grief, after his two-month con-job post his election loss, what kind of a mind still supports this malignant narcissist, pathological liar?
Trump is likely the dumbest president in history. His ego was all that really matters to him, everything else is secondary.
Had trump realized that fact, he likely would have won reelection. The reason he downplayed and lied about covid was because people dying in large numbers on his watch would make him look bad, (he said from the start he didn't want anything bad to happen on his watch because it would make him look bad)....not good for his ego. So instead of just meeting the problem head on and making good decisions from the start instead of lying and denying covids existence, he would have looked like a leader. Instead, he looked like an idiot and was exposed as the liar the left has known he is for a long time.
In the end, trump lost the election because of trump. All the BS about election fraud never had an ounce of truth to it, it was all a cover so trump wouldn't have to blame himself for losing.....right back to trumps ego, yet again.
Trump isn't a weak leader, he is no leader at all. He has spent a lifetime hiring people much smarter than he is to get him where he is, then claiming credit for it. No wonder the guy has literally no friends at all.
Indeed, his base is shrinking by the day...even his biggest supporters have been admitting it. Trump is done.
LOL. You need not look any farther than this page for your answer.
But what is the problem with such a mind? As in "Full Metal Jacket": what is the major malfunction?
Sorry, TiG but I can't open YouTube. Can you describe the scene verbally and I'll see if I can find it on a site I can open?
The drill sergeant is addressing 'Private Pyle' in the latrine and in this scene simply states: "What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?" 'Private Pyle' has his rifle locked and loaded and is apparently having a nervous breakdown.
The key here is the question regarding 'major malfunction'.
The reason(s) would have to be: Trump cultist. Trump worshipper. Other possible reasons that you can certainly guess.
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I wasn’t totally bragging up Trumps intelligence...
Trump is obviously a low intelligence person, and very insecure about it. That's why he always talks about how intelligent he supposedly is, that he's a genius, etc. It is patently untrue. He comes across as a total buffoon, which he is. A dangerous buffoon because of his army of cultists, but a buffoon nevertheless.
Add it to your collection.
I doubt the public noticed. They were generally as ignorant as Trump in such matters.
The problem is, the general public is just as ignorant too.
Well, regarding coronavirus, I'm sure a few more of them figured it out. They might still have supported him (inexplicably), but they knew he'd said something abominably stupid when he made the disinfectant comment. They circled the wagons pretty quickly - "he didn't say that. You heard it wrong. The media took it out of context. He meant something else. He was just asking questions." The usual excuses we see for his idiocy.
Well, in this movie, it was the constant abuse that Private Pyle couldn't deal with because of his immaturity.
I have no answers for the others who continue to praise their Golden Calf.
My guess is that this is some ill-conceived attempt to trigger 'the left' and that online credibility is willingly sacrificed for a successful triggering. Why someone would operate this way is bizarre and I can offer no explanation but it is certainly juvenile.
Juvenile, at the very least. I'd say there is a psychological issue at play too.
Excuses like "fake news" or "liberal lies?"
He also said "Don't ever use the word smart with me."
It was, or should have been, clear to everyone that the US President was too ignorant to fathom just how ignorant he was.
A true politician knows how to curry favor amongst the voters and build his or her base, but all Trump did was alienate people all over the spectrum.
I knew at that moment of the disinfectant comment, that he was going to lose the election. He talked and tweeted his way out of a second term. The moron could never shut the fuck up and let the experts have their say. He never exhibited any sign of having a filter between his brain and his mouth. I never want to see him in office again....but "Trumpism" is far from being cast on the ash heap of history. There are some worthy candidates waiting in the wings, but that is for another discussion.
Yep, trump trumped trump, about the only way it could have ended.
you'll be asked to surrender your maga hat for stating that in public.
Greg, are you alright ?
I think the bromance has officially ended. Welcome back to reality Greg.
... uh, not so fast ...
I was wondering the same thing. I believe it's the 1st comment he's ever made that I agree with...
He called Trump a moron which is the first step to becoming demaganized.
Thing is, one could be a fine president — even one who might inspire the youngest generation — and have the exact same policies as Trump (barring the narcissistic handling of the pandemic and his inexplicable tantrum after losing the election). Trump, for the most part, governed as an R PotUS so clearly there are plenty of individuals who could govern similarly but without all they lying, name-calling, bragging, etc.
But there are MAGA types who will perpetuate support for Trump and in so doing they will (stupidly) cripple the R party for the next few election cycles. Until the Trump parasite is removed from the R party, it will continue to weaken it and prevent if from recovering to the strength it needs to be the counter to the D party.
He really just needed to hire the right people and stay out of their way, but he was too egotistical to do that. He needs to show off what a "stable genius" he is, and he made a fool of himself and the country.
Trump's narcissistic ego prevents him from appreciating the expertise of others. He has to be the smartest person in the room. That management style leads to terrible decisions; instead of a team bringing varied expertise to a problem the solution is the result of only one mind.
And in his case, a remarkably ill-informed mind, uninterested in improvement.
Yeah the best way to make bad decisions is to believe you already have all the answers.
This is a key reason why confirmation bias is so bad with religions ... the mind is ensnared in the dogma and is trained to literally refuse correction: reinforce what is already 'known' and reject anything that counters what is 'known'.
Except ( he ) doesn't know 'the right people' and does not trust anyone except for Ivanka.
Very true. The "right people", to him, are the ones who reinforce his misconceptions. Sycophants. Those who won't tell the emperor he's naked.
He knows them but they are not sufficiently obsequious. Quality people will not work for Trump (for long).
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The world would be a better place if people did not blindly follow authority accepting their utterances as truth and not applying critical thinking.
If so, there would be no absurd nonsense such as declaring that evolution is a worldwide conspiracy and the many other ridiculous and unfounded beliefs that people carry with them.
Yeah, probably!
How do you have trumpism without trump?
Do you really think that we can’t keep the GOP a multi racial working and middle class party that is largely religious, and is a populist nationalist entity that puts America First without Trump after he retires?
Not with the racist, anti-working class, anti-middle class policies that are the stock in trade of the Republican Party.
Where is Greg Jones and what have you done with him?
Birx did herself and the nation a great disfavor. She should have immediately quit, vocally and bravely stated the other things she witnessed. But she didn't. "A Trump is a Trump is a Trump" a quote from a book and that is what it is. The house was already burned down and it didn't make any sense to put a coat of paint on it.
Judging from what she said about never questioning her commanding officer, she is only a "follower", and not a "leader", so there was no reason for anyone to rely on her credibility. Apparently, she "couldn't handle the truth."
Truth was an anathema to that administration.
Being involved with federal politics is bad enough. It is hard to imagine how one deals with Trump in the center of that. Maybe she felt that the best way to serve her country is to keep trying to do her job as best she could within the environmental conditions imposed upon her. That is, she might have believed that resigning would do no good because the person to take her place would have the same imposed restrictions.
Apparently it was a "lose-lose" situation for her.
I'm really undecided about how I feel about her. On one hand, she had a duty to speak the truth, when she had the chance to do so. On the other, she was in a pretty bad spot, given, well, Trump.
But she defended Trump - "that's how he processes information", or something like that. As if urging us to accept as normal the fact that our Commander in Chief routinely spitballs supremely stupid ideas at press conferences to see how many people he can get nodding along. I have a problem with that.
One thing we know is that people who speak the truth do not stick around with Trump very long unless the truth he hears happens to align with his beliefs. I suspect that most of the time the truth would go against what Trump believed with his big brain and best words.
True. He seemed to tolerate Fauci for a while, but as the pandemic wore on, Atlas took Fauci's place in Trump's good graces. Odd, when Trump had Covid, himself. You'd think he'd have learned, but some are immune to education.
I don't know if it was true, but I read that when Trump came down with the virus it was touch and go for him for a little while. If so, he should have treated it with a lot more respect, and joined the other POTUSes to encourage vaccinations.
Yes, he should have. But that would have meant admitting he'd been wrong. Something he can't do.
Now there ⇡ is an understatement!
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FINALLY? Which one did he recommend? Clorox or Lysol?
Too bad he didn't encourage people to wear masks, social distance, or follow scientific advice. We may not have been as bad off with the pandemic as we are.
Do you really think that the majority of US citizens really pay much attention to what any president says. That would imply that they're a bunch of mindless sheep.
There is a minority (hopefully dwindling) of sycophantic followers. Imagine the mind of someone who, at this point in time, still praises Trump and wants him to again be PotUS.
There were enough of them to vote Trump into office. There are still those who think Trump won reelection and that the election was "stolen" and/or believe Trump will make a comeback for reelection in 2024. Trump still has quite a number of sycophants hanging on to him. As I often say, never underestimate the stupidity of the American people.
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A majority of Americans would rather have that any fucking day than have trump in any capacity at the White House.
Well, he could clean the toilets.
I would be embarrassed to employ the childish tactic of word substitution.
Again, you are factually incorrect when you play your stupid word game.
Show me where I have praised Biden.
But yes I want him to remain PotUS until his term ends. Then I will hope that someone better than Harris gains the D nomination and someone substantially better than Trump secures the R nomination.
Well if you call getting the vaccine out in record time, and actually talking to the press without a teleprompter failures, I'll take it.
Death wishing a political group because your golden calf made a fool of himself?
Is that what Jesus would do?
heh, he'll be doing that in prison, with his face.
LOL!
Have I told you lately that I love you?
LOL
She should have also walked out of the briefing shaking her head in disbelief.
I don't know bbl, This happened so fast. I was watching at the time and trump took everyone off guard. .. biggly.... lol
I looked into the background behind trump and she and the other guy sitting a couple of seats away both looked like .. "WTF ?"
I mentally did a double take on what I had just heard as well.
IMO: No one really had time to process the insanity trump had just put forth and the moment moved on.
I do think WE all would have been better served though if like many are saying She could have and should have spoke up later and soon.
Shoot up chlorine bleach.... WTF ?
Duuuuu
f-ing insanity !!! Lol from the most powerful human on earth... so SAD !
Your last sentence. The man held "The most powerful office on Earth." However, the man is the weakest, most ill informed and vengeful man to attain that office.
( note I replaced human with office )
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