We’ve all seen the various flip-flops of the CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci over the last 18 months.
To help keep track, I present “Fauci vs. Fauci,” chronicling the twists, turns, contradictions and backtracks from the man and his agency.⤵️
To start, we need to focus on Dr. Fauci’s perspective on the virus itself and it’s risk to the United States.
In late January 2020, Fauci said that COVID was a “very, very low risk to the United States.”
I think it goes without saying that his perspective has evolved since.
One big, obvious area of flipping is around the benefits of wearing a mask. Dr. Fauci originally said that masks weren’t effective & publicly encouraged Americans not to buy them (guidance he doesn’t regret).
Now even vaccinated people need to wear masks.
And it wasn’t just the efficacy of masks in general. Less than a month ago , Dr. Fauci declared confidently that the CDC wasn’t going to change its recommendation about masking given the Delta variant.
We’ve already seen changes, and more are under consideration.
And how many masks were we all supposed to wear, anyway?
Was it one mask? Two masks? No mask? A face shield? Goggles? Depending on when you asked Dr. Fauci, it could’ve been anything.
Dr. Fauci was a leading voice suggesting for months that the pandemic couldn’t possibly have leaked from a lab in Wuhan (one that received US tax dollars, by the way).
That was until the consensus changed. And then, suddenly, the theory couldn’t be dismissed.
Complete 180
These reversals cut in both directions. Back in September, the CDC changed its rules - reportedly under political pressure - to reduce the people it advised getting tested, before quickly reversing course after pressure.
And you may have forgotten, but the CDC had a brouhaha also in September when new guidance about airborne transmission - including beyond 6 feet - went live on the agency’s website.
It was quickly scrubbed after a brief medical & news firestorm.
Not exactly confidence-inspiring
Schools have seen lots of reversals. In February, the CDC Director said schools could reopen safely w/o teachers vaccinated.
Well, a few calls from the teachers union later, the CDC reversed course. Weeks later, new guidance (sensing a theme?) was released focusing on teachers.
And we had plenty of flips when it came to teachers wearing masks.
First, the CDC said that they had to, back in May 2020.
Then earlier this month, the CDC said vaccinated teachers and students don’t need one.
But now? Back to where we started - masks for the vaccinated.
And who could forget the approval, then pause, then unpause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a move that diminished American confidence in vaccines in the midst of a vaccine rollout during a global pandemic?
The coronavirus pandemic is unlike anything any of us have seen before. There should be some charity and humility about bad predictions.
But the idea that Dr. Fauci and the CDC haven’t flip-flopped? That’s just preposterous.
Is it any wonder Americans don’t trust public health experts after this? Does it surprise anyone that Dr. Fauci and the CDC aren’t seen as reputable now?
These failures have consequences, and you can measure them in lives.
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Important 🧵 addition. You may remember that, back in April, Dr. Fauci said new case levels meant we were primed for a surge.
As you can see by the case count, that didn’t happen (1/2)
But now, as blue states who have supposedly done everything right see their counts increase, Dr. Fauci has realized (too late, IMO) that case counts actually aren’t worth worrying about.
Interesting how that happens. (2/2)
This news comes on the heels of CDC Director Walensky giving the game away on isolation periods, admitting that their guidance changed not with any science but because they didn’t think folks could “tolerate” longer periods (again, now that it’s the Good Guys getting sick)
That led to a backlash from the media and powerful unions which - somehow - has caused “the science” to quickly shift once again, requiring “further clarification” imminently
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If you missed Trump’s address to Congress last night, I wouldn’t rely on media stories to explain it.
Rather than report on a speech viewers found “inspiring,” the corporate press played PR for Democrats.
Wanna know why trust in the press is underwater? Look. ⤵️
A @CBSNews poll of viewers found “A large majority of viewers approve” of Trump’s message, overwhelmingly describing it as “inspiring,” rather than “divisive.”
The speech was certainly partisan - and viewers skewed right.
But the press’s own view appears to slant their takes.
What leads me to claim that? Well, just look at how @CBSNews decided to report on the speech.
They tweeted out that “there was a horribly tense feeling,” and it was “filled with drama.”
Why focus on how their reporter felt, rather than viewers?
Having worked on the Hill I get the ubiquity of Politico Pro and its cost.
But I think it takes an enormous suspension of disbelief to call it a conspiracy theory to look askance at the millions of dollars the Biden admin paid the paper that ran this hatchet job on his opponent.
Which, to be clear, is exactly what outlets like @CNN are doing.
@CNN This from @axios seems particularly unreasonable.
It isn’t a “fake theory” to say that Politico is “funded by the government.” It is, to the tune of $8 million. That isn’t in dispute.
Quick 🧵 revisiting corporate media claims on the Covid lab leak theory then (a “conspiracy theory,” “misinformation,” etc.) vs. now (“okay the CIA even admits it”).
Trump’s return to the Oval Office has me reflecting on some of the worst “journalism” during his first term.
Of that long list, one in particular jumps out: the corporate press hype around the Steele dossier.
Do you *really* remember how bad it was? Follow along. ⤵️
Before I dive in, would really encourage you to read my full piece at @Holden_Court, because there’s too much to fit in a thread.
That said, surely you remember the dossier, a bunch of dramatic claims about Trump that even @nytimes now calls “discredited” open.substack.com/pub/drewholden…
But before that, there was the hype: the hero worship of Christopher Steele, the spy who was going to save American from Trump, the Russian puppet.
I mean, @washingtonpost put “hero” right in the title.
The rest of the piece is worse. WaPo repeats the claims — that the Russians had kompromat on him for engaging with prostitutes! Maybe Trump was compromised — verbatim without mentioning in the first instance that there’s no evidence these claims are true! Look at the highlights.
An unthinkable breach of journalistic ethics. There was plenty more.