Wednesday, August 12, 2020

So . . . Not A "New Tone"

Trump Adds Coronavirus Adviser Who Echoes His Unscientific Claims
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, August 12, 2020:
[Trump introduced] Dr. Scott Atlas, a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution who frequently appears on Fox News and has advised Republicans in the past. And crucially, unlike the government's medical experts who have advised Trump until now, has adopted a public stance on the virus much closer to Trump's -- including decrying the idea that schools cannot reopen this fall as "hysteria" and pushing for the resumption of college sports.

Several months into the pandemic sweeping the nation, Atlas made his debut in the briefing room with a new title: adviser to the President.

"He's working with us and will be working with us on the coronavirus," Trump said. "And he has many great ideas. And he thinks what we've done is really good, and now we'll take it to a new level." ...

Atlas has been an extensive critic of severe lockdowns and publicly agreed with the President on all of those above measures. He joins Trump's team at a time when he finds himself increasingly at odds with the other medical experts in his administration, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx. ...

Atlas has been informally advising Trump for weeks. Trump first noticed Atlas on Fox News, where he asserted it doesn't matter "how many cases" there are in the US, wrongly claimed those under 18 years old have "essentially no risk of dying," implied teachers who are at high risk for contracting Covid-19 should "know how to protect themselves," baselessly claimed "children almost never transmit the disease" and without evidence blamed a rise in cases in southern states on protests and border crossings. ...

Atlas has advised Republicans in the past, including Rudy Giuliani, the President's personal attorney who has also fanned conspiracy theories about coronavirus. ...

Two officials voiced concern that Trump brought Atlas in several months into the pandemic to diminish the voices of medical experts he disagrees with. ...

When the President initially revived his daily briefings, he told aides he did not want the experts who had at times contradicted him to join him any longer. Instead, he claimed, he would relay the administration's message that day by himself.

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