merelygifted:

Over the weekend, multiple news outlets broke the story that Trump’s appointed assistant secretary of public affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services and his assistants have been watering down or blocking key reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention known as the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. Not only have Michael Caputo and aide Paul Alexander been engaged in ongoing battle with CDC scientists over findings that contradict Trump’s own rosy claims, during the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic, but they have done so while accusing CDC scientists of writing “hit pieces” meant to damage the administration—and the claims both men have made, in confronting CDC scientists, have been so broadly conspiratorial in nature as to raise questions about both men’s fitness for the job. …