Tony's Diary Package — page 279

Dr Deborah Birx: voice of scientific reason or apologist for Trump? The coordinator of the White House coronavirus taskforce built her reputation fighting Aids but is she compromising it by indulging the president's whims? Dr Deborah Birx speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office with Trump. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock Tom McCarthy @TeeMcSee Published on Sun 9 Aug 2020 05.00 EDT Months of frustration with Donald Trump's denial of the coronavirus crisis in the United States boiled over last week when the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, publicly attacked a top member of Trump's coronavirus team, Dr Deborah Birx, for standing by the US president despite his record of lies and misinformation about the virus. Her position contrasts sharply with Dr Anthony Fauci, her former supervisor and current scientific peer on the White House coronavirus taskforce, who has clashed more frequently with Trump - but has if anything risen in the public estimation for doing so. The question for Birx is whether, after the current health emergency is past, she will be remembered as a Fauci-like figure who was able to work with Trump without becoming personally compromised - or as something else.