1/13
I talk a lot on this show about expertise. I’m an expert about nothing except snack foods. But I’m big on expertise. Which is why, as I take stock of this last year, two of my biggest disappointments have been actual experts. #velshi
2/13
The addition of renowned AIDS researcher Dr. Deborah Birx to the Trump administration’s Covid-19 task force was hailed as a positive step that stumbled fast. While people counted on her expertise to counter Trump’s ignorance, she didn’t. #velshi
3/13
She praised Trump for implementing China travel restrictions that did very little, if anything, to stop the spread of Covid, already making its way across the country, with no working formal testing plan in place. #velshi
4/13
Then she actually praised Trump’s ability to, “analyze and integrate data”, suggesting he was “attentive to the scientific literature.” As I often say, we have an expression for that in Canada. Two words: one starts with a B and the other with an S. #velshi
5/13
Deborah Birx was more damaging than the blowhards with whom Trump normally surrounds himself, because she had the veneer of legitimacy; we expected that she would work in the interest of science and the American people. #velshi
6/13
You can’t work in favor of Americans & lie about how smart Trump is at the same time. When he asked her about ingesting bleach and injecting sunlight, it was time for Dr. Birx to call him out, or leave. She did neither. #velshi
7/13
While Dr. Birx may have fooled some people for a time, Dr. Scott Atlas only ever fooled Trump and his sycophants. He got his start in the Trump administration the way so many did - on Fox News. #velshi
8/13
While he IS a Stanford-trained neuro-radiologist, Atlas has as much experience in immunology, virology and epidemiology as I have. So if Covid were a neuro-radiological epidemic, maybe his appointment would have been relevant. But it’s not. And he’s not. #velshi
9/13
Dr. Atlas made his mark by suggesting children have virtually no risk of dying from Covid, calling for asymptomatic people NOT to be tested despite being able to spread the virus, being skeptical about masks, advocating for a herd-immunity strategy. #velshi
10/13
You would be justified in being angry about how so much that happened in 2020 didn’t actually have to happen. Think back just one year to those whom we saw at holiday parties and dinners, those for whom we wrapped presents and sent holiday cards. #velshi
11/13
About 1 in every 1000 of U.S. citizens is dead from a virus the President said was under control and would disappear, 10 months ago. Our President was weak and, as weak people do, he surrounded himself with other weak people. That is our past, now. #velshi
12/13
What matters is that YOU weren’t weak. The country wasn’t weak. Tried and tested by a virus & police brutality & lies & a continuing coup attempt, you prevailed. The price was - and continues to be - high, but you won. #velshi
13/13
This different & unfamiliar looking New Year’s Eve, heed the words of columnist & author Bill Vaughan: “An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” This year, most of us will do both. #velshi
You can follow @AliVelshi.
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