First there was this piece of banana Republicanism:
The White House is blocking Dr. Anthony Fauci from testifying before a House panel next week on the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Fauci, an leading infectious disease expert, is a prominent part of the White House’s coronavirus task force.
“While the Trump Administration continues its whole-of-government response to COVID-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counterproductive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at congressional hearings,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement Friday. “We are committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time.”Apparently, the concept of not appearing at "congressional hearings" only applies to the Democratic- controlled House, since the Republican- controlled Senate Health Committee is scheduled to have Dr. Fauci testify on May 12. Regardless, muzzling Fauci in any way is another obstruction of Congress' oversight role and a transparent attempt at coverup and damage control by this supremely inept and vile regime.
Then, later on Friday, there was another sign Trump's regime is going all out to revise the history of his catastrophic, ongoing incompetence in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic:
President Trump moved on Friday night to replace a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services who angered him with a report last month highlighting supply shortages and testing delays at hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic.
The White House waited until after business hours to announce the nomination of a new inspector general for the department who, if confirmed, would take over for Christi A. Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general who was publicly assailed by the president at a news briefing three weeks ago.
The truth- tellers and watchdogs are being marginalized or removed when we need their honesty and professionalism the most. All the more reason we need to take out the trash in November.The nomination was the latest effort by Mr. Trump against watchdog offices around his administration that have defied him. In recent weeks, he fired an inspector general involved in the inquiry that led to the president’s impeachment, nominated a White House aide to another key inspector general post overseeing virus relief spending and moved to block still another inspector general from taking over as chairman of a pandemic spending oversight panel.
