It’s been less than a month since Patrick Joseph White, fueled by the same COVID-19 conspiracies the Trump administration now endorses, tried to murder Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees.
Now, leadership at the CDC is focusing on what’s really important: forcing those workers to go back to the office by Sept. 15.
The Aug. 28 announcement came from CDC Chief Operating Officer Lynda Chapman during her first week on the job. This isn’t really surprising from Chapman, who got her position not because she has any public health expertise, nor any experience overseeing government agencies. She does, however, have a website where she sells photos of President Donald Trump.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta
The Trump administration has done its usual job of trying to spin her meager experience as an attorney and a pharmacist as far more than it actually is, pretending that she’s a meritocratic choice rather than another Trump hanger-on who got a high-level job.
Still, Chapman’s disregard for CDC workers is shocking. Union leaders have spoken out about how bullet holes and other damage to the building will likely still be visible when employees are forced to return. Though, of course, the Trump team has also declared that it no longer recognizes the union representing CDC workers.
But Chapman isn’t even pretending that some offices damaged by the mass shooting will be ready, instead saying that “alternative on-campus space will be provided.”
It’s quite the decision to demand workers to come back to offices that you haven’t yet managed to repair.
Perhaps workers can take comfort in the words of Chapman’s predecessor, Christa Capozzola, who essentially told them that security efforts are a secret.
“There are things that will not be seen as we strengthen our security posture to protect you and our campus,” Capozzola wrote in an Aug. 15 email.
A building pockmarked with bullet holes and vague promises of security … I really can’t imagine how workers aren’t just itching to return.
The return to work order comes on the heels of CDC leadership’s refusal to give employees any time off in the aftermath of the shooting, thus making their absolute contempt for the workers crystal clear.
From the start, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handling of the shooting was abysmal. It took him 18 hours to post the most banal response, and he did that only after posting some pictures of his fishing trip. And to this day, Trump has not made a statement about the shooting.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sits beside President Donald Trump.
But why would either of them condemn the shooter, really? His COVID-19 vaccine conspiracies are their own.
Meanwhile, Kennedy has been communicating with CDC employees—but only to tell them how much they suck and how great his ever-rotating cast of unqualified high-level officials is.
“Reform does not diminish your work; it strengthens it. The American people are ready to believe in this agency again if we show them that integrity, accountability and science guide every decision,” Kennedy wrote in an email after the blowout firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez—who actually has public health experience.
Buddy, you just installed Jim O’Neill as the acting head of the CDC. O’Neill is many things: a Peter Thiel acolyte, an ivermectin enthusiast, and an anti-vaxxer. But you know what he’s not? Someone with any medical or scientific training. He’s a biotech investor with a master's degree in humanities.
It’s exhausting watching the Trump administration pretend that wildly unqualified people like O’Neill and Chapman are the most meritocratic choices.
But when Trump’s only requirement for employment is agreeing with anything he says, there’s no debating that these two are perfect for the job.
