A high-ranking federal scientist focused on vaccine development says he was removed from his post because of his “insistence” that the government spend funds on “safe and scientifically vetted solutions” to address the coronavirus crisis and not on “drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit.”

In a statement Wednesday that was released by his attorneys, Richard Bright specifically cited his pushback against unproven potential treatments that President Trump has repeatedly advocated for during White House briefings and on Twitter.

Bright was director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and a deputy assistant secretary with the Department of Health and Human Services until, he says, he was removed on Tuesday. Bright said he has been transferred to “a more limited and less impactful position” at the National Institutes of Health.

Asked about the removal during Wednesday evening’s coronavirus briefing, Trump said he’d never heard of Bright. “Maybe he was [removed after raising concerns], maybe he wasn’t,” Trump said. “You’d have to hear the other side.”

If its ringing any bells, there is a reason…

It’s a Good Life

Plot Summary:

Six-year-old Anthony Fremont has godlike mental powers, including mind-reading. He has isolated his town of Peaksville, Ohio from the rest of the universe. The people must thus grow their own food, and supplies of common household items, such as bar soap, have been dwindling. He has blocked television signals and caused cars not to work. He creates horrible creatures, such as three-headed gophers, which he then kills. Everybody is under his rule, even his parents. The people live in fear of him, constantly telling him how everything he does is “good,” since he banishes anyone thinking unhappy thoughts into the otherworldly cornfield from which there is no return. Never having experienced any form of discipline, Anthony does not even understand that his actions are wrong, and is confused when his father tells him that the neighbors are reluctant to let their children play with him after he sent several of his playmates to the cornfield.

One night each week, Anthony gives the townsfolk one hour of television, which he creates and projects onto the family TV set. The adults gather around in the Fremonts’ living room, squirming uncomfortably as Anthony shows them a vision of screaming dinosaurs, engaged in a gory battle. Unable to voice their real feelings, they tell Anthony that it was far better than what used to be on TV.

After the program is over, the adults celebrate Dan Hollis’ birthday. He gets two presents from his wife: a bottle of brandy (which is one of only five bottles of liquor left in the village) and a Perry Como record. Dan is eager to listen to the record, but he’s reminded by everyone that Anthony does not like singing. Getting drunk from the brandy, he starts complaining about the miserable state of the town, not listening to the record, and no one singing “Happy Birthday” to him. Dan snaps and confronts the child, calling him a monster and a murderer. While Anthony’s anger grows, Dan yells for someone to attack Anthony from behind and end his reign of terror. Aunt Amy (who isn’t able to sing anymore because of Anthony) tentatively reaches for a fireplace poker, but no one has the courage to act. Anthony transforms Dan into a jack-in-the-box, causing his wife to break down. The adults are horrified at what Anthony has done, and his father asks him to wish Dan into the cornfield, which Anthony does.

He then causes snow to begin falling outside. The snow will kill off at least half the crops and the town will face starvation. Anthony’s father starts to rebuke Anthony about this, but his wife and the other adults look on with worried smiles on their faces. The father then smiles and tells Anthony in a terrified voice, “…But it’s good you’re making it snow. A real good thing. And tomorrow… tomorrow’s gonna be a… real good day!”

President Trump’s war on official Washington began almost the minute he took office. Since his inauguration, he’s proposed steep cuts to department budgets, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His team sowed chaos with dramatic reforms at agencies like the State Department (which he called the “Deep State Department” on Friday). He’s left a huge number of positions unfilled: The Pentagon alone has a record number of civilian vacancies. His loyalists have tried to spy on and scapegoat career officials, who are not tied to any party or president, at the National Security Council.

This war has taken on greater intensity since Trump’s acquittal in the U.S. Senate’s impeachment trial last month. Last week, he fired Russell Travers, the acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center and a decades-long member of the intelligence community, and his deputy, in an apparent campaign to root out what he’s called the disloyal “snakes” in government.

The Travers incident would be worrisome even before the coronavirus was spreading dramatically and the stock market was crashing. But it makes clear Trump remains as dedicated to his war against government as to the one against the pandemic. Although the president tweets about being at “war” against the disease, Trump will struggle to get the people and policies to win it as long as he remains obsessed with his Washington purge.

Trump and his loyalists have long claimed to be beset by a “deep state,” and it’s true the president has met resistance — in bureaucratic brinkmanship and leaks like the anonymous New York Times op-ed. Trump is far from the first president to face intrigues, but his response has been singular, particularly since the impeachment proceedings, in which several civil servants gave what he saw as damaging testimony. Upon the Senate’s acquittal, Trump took revenge, using a disloyalty list to oust some of those players and others across the Pentagon, Treasury Department, NSC and intelligence community.

This sort of purge is undermining government at a time when it is needed most.

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Even though the White House has rightly promised a “whole-of-government” pandemic response, which requires all agencies — including national security departments — working together, the government is far from whole. More than two-thirds of the top jobs at the Department of Homeland Security, which plays a key role in domestic response, are vacant or filled by acting officials. The Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies are similarly shorthanded. A hunt for disloyalty makes it harder to find qualified people to fill these jobs and keep the other positions filled: It’s no wonder the White House has resorted to hiring college students.

The loyalty tests also have made it hard to simply offer advice, leaving many of the best minds in public health and other policy howling on Twitter and cable news. Tom Bossert, who served as the administration’s first homeland security adviser and oversaw much of the government’s biosecurity portfolio, reportedly tried to advise the White House as the crisis built but his calls were blocked by officials in the administration.

A purge in government also makes it harder to develop the best policies. Unforeseen crises are opportunities for new voices and new ideas to be heard, but people speak up only when they trust giving honest advice will not hurt their careers.

Clearly that is not the case in Washington: trust is the first casualty of a snake hunt. That’s one reason so many former officials are worried about the message the purge and its dismissals will send to those remaining in the ranks of the intelligence community. (Nine former intelligence chiefs wrote a public letter about this Friday.) It’s also why so many meetings with Trump on coronavirus begin with praise. Even as testing lagged behind, CDC Director Robert Redfield said the most important message he wanted to deliver during the president’s tour of the agency’s Atlanta headquarters was to thank the president for his “decisive leadership.” Unless they bend a knee, advisers know their advice may fall on deaf ears or their tenures be cut short.
….

He gutted all the science advisory panels- he disbanded the pandemic response team, he ignored the NSC pandemic playbook, he goes on stage and lies and contradicts Fauci AS FAUCI STANDS THERE BESIDE HIM! He even tweeted the hashtag #FireFauci!!!

He ignored the problem from the start, he stood in the way of testing because testing would make the number of confirmed cases increase. As a result the deaths of 42000 Americans are on his hands- and yours. 15 times the death toll of 9-11… and no where near the end. You co-cosigned on those tens of thousands of painful choking last breaths… you signed your name to them while giggling about how you owned those over-educated libs…

Well over 22 million unemployed, many more to lose their jobs in the coming weeks. TENS OF MILLIONS of Lives and livelihoods wrecked in addition to the tens of thousands ended.

And now- in defiance of Fauci, facts and science he proposes re-opening the country- whatever the hell that means- without ANY adequate testing program in place- an irresponsible act that if allowed to happen by the governors will kill many hundreds of thousands more.

WHAT THE HELL WILL IT TAKE TO GET IT THROUGH YOUR SKULL, ROB?

Will you realize its a problem when someone close to you dies?
Probably not even then, I suppose… MAGA morons are obstructing hospitals and violating stay at home orders while carrying guns and wearing red hats.

You are just one of the barbarians at the gates- a mindless destructive horde that will gladly kill themselves and others rather than admit that perhaps electing a narcissistic conman, a pathological liar, an ignorant buffoon that attacks science… perhaps that was a really stupid thing to do.

What do you think, Rob? Are you proud of all you helped do to this nation?
Or have you quietly stopped wearing that stupid red hat in public, and pray that your neighbors have forgotten about that?

They haven’t, you know…. they never will- we never will. We will remember your name and what you did- and you will have to live with the consequences the rest of your life.

Will you have the guts to show your face at the funerals to come this year? Try showing up to one in your stupid red hat- let us know how that goes… once gatherings like funerals are allowed again…

A “civil servant” will sign it, according to Wapo. Don’t know who, but the term rules out Secretaries and other political lackies and lickspittles like Munchkin.

I do find it funny that conservatives are totally cool with THIS president doling out cash to people and yet were in a fury over the Obama Phone and the mere mention of helping people pay for a college education – something that would greatly improve the lives of everyone- is called unfair, and socialism- you yourself had strong feelings against the very thought of it…

But that wasn’t my point either…

My point was that this president is so small, petty and needy that he needs to have his name- for no reason other than ego – on the checks…

Checks that are going out to help people survive a crisis he created. A crisis he continue to make worse every time he speaks and acts. He and- to only a slightly lesser extent, you- are responsible for the avoidable deaths of 10′s of thousands of americans, and as I write this he is speaking about taking actions that WILL- if allowed- kill hundreds of thousands more. Adding an even larger amount to your personal responsibility.

You once said Trump finally gave people like you a voice… we are now seeing the results of that… it turns out that voice was silenced for good reason- it was the voice of ignorance, bigotry and death.

I honestly would like to know, Rob- are you proud of what you helped do to the nation? Do you feel you should EVER allow yourself to vote again after this? You assured us he would hire the best people and listen to them- how did that work out?

How would you rate your judgement so far?