Media pundits began to attack Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response team, after she backed President Donald Trump on his attentiveness to scientific details regarding the novel coronavirus.
Birx ripped the media’s hysteria over reports of a possible shortage of beds and ventilators during a briefing Thursday evening. She also vouched for how the president’s “long history in business” has allowed him to be “so attentive to the scientific literature & the details & the data” during an interview on CBN News Thursday.
Media pundits began to attack Birx for her commentary, namely after she backed up the president for how he has dealt with the novel coronavirus pandemic. (RELATED: More Americans Approve Of Trump’s Coronavirus Response Than The Media’s)
“I, for one, am no longer interested in hearing from Dr. Brix,” CNN political analyst Joe Lockhart decided. “Her vouching for Trump’s vast scientific abilities from his business background was the breaking point. Stepford Doc.”
I’m right about everything I told you about Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci and it will become abundantly clear to you in April.
They are not acting like doctors.
They are acting as publicists for Donald Trump.
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) March 26, 2020
Vox journalist Aaron Rupar tweeted that Birx’s comments were “shocking” and “hackish” along with clips of her comments that have caused backlash.
WATCH:
“Please, for the reassurance of people around the word, to wake up this morning and hear about [hospitals] creating Do Not Resuscitate situations for patients — there is no situation in the US that warrants that kind of discussion” — Dr Birx on Thursday pic.twitter.com/IwSlT5nSTU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 27, 2020
“President Kevorkian’s followers are going to die from taking taking an unproven drug,” Trump critic Rick Wilson tweeted March 24, just days before many began to go after Birx. “And still, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, and other people on that stage haven’t just walked off when he does this shit. At some point, their Hippocratic Oath comes into play, right?”
Newsweek columnist Seth Abramson tweeted out his fears, as well. Abramson wrote that he is “starting to fear Deborah Birx is exactly the droid Trump was looking for.”
“When daily deaths in Italy went down from 700+ to 600+ over a 24-hour period, Deborah Birx immediately told America there were signs Italy’s outbreak was ‘declining,'” Abramson added in another tweet Friday. “Now that deaths in Italy are 900+ daily, will she recant, or does she just give us rosy lies daily like her boss?”
Five Thirty Eight editor-in-chief Nate Silver called Birx’s ventilator comments “disturbing.” Silver included a thread from infectious disease epidemiologist and microbiologist Marc Lipsitch that disagreed with Birx’s comments.
The comments by Dr. Birx tonight were really disturbing. Here’s why: https://t.co/6o7rWYix4T
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) March 27, 2020