A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America

by Scott W. Atlas

National Bestseller a s seen on Tucker Carlson , The Ingraham Angle , The Megyn Kelly Show , The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show , The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton and more!

What really happened behind the scenes at the Trump White House during the COVID pandemic?

When Dr. Scott W. Atlas was tapped by Donald Trump to join his COVID Task Force, he was immediately thrust into a maelstrom of scientific disputes, policy debates, raging egos, politically motivated lies, and cynical media manipulation. Numerous myths and distortions surround the Trump Administration’s handling of the crisis, and many pressing questions remain unanswered. Did the Trump team really bungle the response to the pandemic? Were the right decisions made about travel restrictions, lockdowns, and mask mandates? Are Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx competent medical experts or timeserving bureaucrats? Did half a million people really die unnecessarily because of Trump’s incompetence?

So far no trusted figure has emerged who can tell the story straight—until now. In this unfiltered insider account, Dr. Scott Atlas brings us directly into the White House, describes the key players in the crisis, and assigns credit and blame where it is deserved.

The book includes shocking evaluations of the Task Force members’ limited knowledge and grasp of the science of COVID and details heated discussions with Task Force members, including all of the most controversial episodes that dominated headlines for weeks. Dr. Atlas tells the truth about the science and documents the media’s relentless campaign to suffocate it, which included canceled interviews, journalists’ off-camera hostility in White House briefings, and intentional distortion of facts. He also provides an inside account of the delays and timelines involving vaccines and other treatments, evaluates the impact of the lockdowns on American public health, and indicts the relentless war on truth waged by Big Business and Big Tech.

No other book contains these revelations. Millions of people who trust Dr. Atlas will want to read this dramatic account of what really went on behind the scenes in the White House during the greatest public health crisis of the 21st century.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Science, Health, Audiobook, American History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Mansoor · Rating 5 out of 5]

What kind of country sacrifices its children out of fear for adults? To me, this was a sin, a total breakdown of the moral contract between a civilization and its children. I asked myself, “Where are the teachers? Where are the pediatricians and child psychologists? And where are the parents?”
—Scott W. Atlas

The cure cannot be worse than the disease.
—President Donald Trump

I have often said that lockdowns are like taking a hammer to get rid of a fly sitting on a glass. You will shatter everything.
—Sunetra Gupta

By ignoring basic, long-standing principles of public health during the pandemic, most nations marched down the path of folly together. The leaders of those nations will be fine, except for some early retirements. The devastation on children, the poor, the working class and the middle class, on the other hand, will take decades to repair.
—Martin Kulldorff

I just can't overstress how harmful these lockdowns were.
—Jay Bhattacharya

Life does not ask us what we want. It presents us with options. Economics is one of the ways of trying to make the most of those options.
—Thomas Sowell

Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.
—Frederic Bastiat, The Law

It has been 2 years since “2 weeks to flatten the curve” and there is still no evidence that lockdowns saved lives. These restrictions pushed 100 million people into poverty while billionaires gained $5 trillion. Will anyone ever be held accountable or did they get away with it?
—Alex Gutentag



رسانه‌های غربی به خاطر توجیه‌تراشی برای لاک‌داون‌ها یک دوگانه‌ی جعلی ساخته بودند به اسم نجات اقتصاد/نجات جان انسان‌ها که به عنوان اولویت‌های مخالفان/موافقان لاک‌داون ازش نام می‌بردند. هدف خبیث وانمودن گروه اول و قهرمان ساختن از دومی بود. ولی واقعیت این است که پایان دادن به لاک‌داون‌ها و برگشت به روال عادی زندگی نجات جان انسان‌ها از طریق نجات اقتصاد بود (به ویژه برای طبقه‌ی کارگر و فقیر). اقتصاددانان حوزه‌ی سلامت، متخصصان سلامت عمومی و پژوهشگران سیاست‌گذاری سلامت عمومی بارها در پژوهش‌هایشان نشان داده‌اند که بیکاری نرخ امید به زندگی را کاهش می‌دهد. محروم شدن بچه‌ها از آموزش نرخ امید به زندگی را کاهش می‌دهد. هر یک درصد افزایش در نرخ بیکاری باعث ده‌ها هزار مرگ است که به خاطر از دست دادن درآمد، بیمه‌ی درمانی و غیره حادث می‌شوند. در سراسر دورانی که لاک‌داون‌ها برقرار بودند، و زمانی که طبقه‌ی بالا با خیالی جمع از جهت درآمدشان مشغول زوم‌میتینگ‌هایشان در خانه بودند، این طبقات پایین بودند که با بودن در معرض ویروس، بارِ رساندن جامعه به ایمنی جمعی را به دوش می‌کشیدند. چیزی که در نهایت همه‌ی جامعه ازش منفعت می‌برد. اینها همان کسانی بودند که مشاغل "ضروری" داشتند. غذا و مایحتاج طبقه‌ی بالا را تامین می‌کردند و درِ خانه تحویلشان می‌دادند. زباله‌هایشان را از در خانه جمع می‌کردند و اسباب حمل‌ونقلشان را در مواقع لازم فراهم می‌کردند



اسکات اتلس، پزشک و متخصص سیاست‌گذاری سلامت عمومی در دانشگاه استنفرد، از همان مراحل اولیه‌ی پندمیک پی برده بود که لاک‌داون‌ها بسیار بیشتر از خیری که قرار است برسانند، شر می‌آفرینند. بر همین اساس شروع کرد به نوشتن مقالاتی درباره‌ی پندمیک برای عموم مردم. این نوشته‌ها آنقدر بازخوردهای مثبت از طرف مردم سرخورده، سرگردان یا ترس‌خورده گرفتند که خیلی زود پای اتلس به مصاحبه‌های تلویزیونی هم باز شد و همین او را در رادار تیم دستیاران پرزیدنت ترامپ قرار داد. ترامپ، با وجودی که در محاصره‌ی بورکرات‌ها دست و بالش بسته شده بود، با استناد به عقل سلیم مخالف لاک‌داون‌ها بود و بارها خواسته‌اش مبنی بر باز شدن کسب‌وکارها و مدارس را به گوش مردم رسانده بود. سرانجام اتلس به واشنگتن فراخوانده شد. این کتاب روایت دست اولی از حضور چهارماهه‌ی او در کاخ سفید در سمت مشاور پرزیدنت است. ترامپ در همان دیدار اول، بعد از بحث و گفت‌وگو با اتلس، آزرده‌خاطر به دستیارانش می‌گوید چرا چنین متخصصی شش ماه پیش در کاخ سفید نبود. گویا اذعان می‌کند که نزدیک‌ترین دستیارانش هم ناامیدش کرده‌اند. روایت اتلس گیرا، برملاگر و تکان‌دهنده است. روایتی از برهه‌ای که علم، شواهد تاریخی، عقل سلیم و حقوق اساسی انسان‌ها در حلقه‌ی محاصره‌ی بورکرات‌ها و رسانه‌ها به سطل آشغال هدایت شدند

پی‌نوشت: تنها کشور غربی که لاک‌داون‌ها را در مغایرت با قانون اساسی‌اش می‌دید و لذا هیچ وقت لاک‌داون نگذاشت سوئد بود. (آمار مرگ‌ومیر سوئد در دوران پندمیک را مقایسه کنید با باقی کشورهای غربی تا نتیجه را ببینید.)

حالا امسال هم دادگاه قانون اساسی اسپانیا لاک‌داون‌های سال گذشته‌ی این کشور را خلاف قانون اساسی اعلام کرده و به حکومت دستور داده جریمه‌های شهروندانی را که بابت شکستن لاک‌داون توبیخ شده بودند، بهشان برگرداند
https://apnews.com/article/coronaviru...

PS And now they're saying "please don't hold us accountable for our gaslighting, lies, and fear mongering." "Forgive and forget that we called you evil murderers and suggested you be fired or put in 'quarantine camps'."



PS 2 Dr Vinay Prasad has made a list of misuses and abuses of power done by public health officials during the Covid pandemic. It's horrific. (See the comments, message 10)

[Daniel Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is real science, not politics

Scott Atlas MD has a distinguished scientific pedigree as first a neuroradiologist, then a second career in health policy analysis. He accepted an invitation to serve on a presidential task force on Covid and had his eyes opened by the disingenuous and scandalous behavior of the people picked by the media to get the lion's share of attention about the pandemic.
There are two parts to the book: first a blow by blow retelling of his experience followed by a barrage of science that demonstrates to all but the most partisan that the indiscriminate lockdowns were bad policy and whose effects will reverberate around the globe for years.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some real science, and not politico ego posturing.

The Task Force was in great, great expanses almost totally ignored.

Lockdowns and attempts to put Covid cases at zero are the farthest thing from real science and the research of virus spread as you can get. Very, very few will admit the horrendous mistakes made and they continue merrily along.

NO ONE has admitted they were wrong and attempted an impossible and quite stupid model. STILL.

Children have been used as throwaway fodder. Dr. Atlas still cannot understand how people will continue to follow methods maiming them.

[Stuart · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the darkest days of the Soviet Union, Stalin, a sociopath, hired a crackpot agronomist, Lysenko, to head the Institute of Genetics. Millions starved because of his crackpot ideas on farming, which were implemented throughout the Soviet Union. Lysenko never expressed any remorse for his deadly incompetence.

In the darkest days of the COVID pandemic in the US, Trump, a sociopath, hired a crackpot doctor, Atlas, to serve as an advisor on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Over 100,000 lives were lost because of his crackpot ideas on epidemiology. Fortunately, Atlas wasn’t as powerful as Lysenko otherwise we likely would have lost an additional million lives. Atlas has never expressed any remorse for his deadly incompetence.

History repeats with one addition: Atlas is trying to profit off his incompetence by writing a book. The book is a testimony to the delusion caused by monstrous egotism. That one deadly act of incompetence took place under an extreme leftist government and the other deadly act of incompetence took place under an extreme right wing government is not a surprise. The language of the extreme left and extreme right is different, but the aims of extremism are always the same: power and deadly control.

[Elvo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Atlas shows that it's not too late to learn from the missteps of the lock down strategy

Very insightful view of the pandemic from inside the White House. Unfortunately the same mistakes are still being made today.

[David Lubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spot on

Dr. Atlas covers the topic of COVID-19 thoroughly and accurately. I have not been able to find evidence that he is wrong about any of the facts that he states. He was placed in a terrible position as the only non political person in a sea of politics. I recommend the book if you want to know the facts.

[Ed Swartley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Covid: Sadly, we’ve gotten it almost entirely wrong

The Black Plague begat the Dark Ages. Covid has spawned new and virile strains of ignorance, division and vitriol. In spite of draconian lockdowns, the impacts of which likely killed or harmed far more Americans than the virus itself, a modicum of good sense forwarded by Dr. Atlas and (wait for it ...) Donald Trump himself might yet preserve our nation from the darkest threats now looming on the horizon. “A Plague Upon Our House” presents a cogent summation of the failures of the herd mentality that led to grievous miscalculations in America’s war on Covid. Often a victim of his own hubris, as attested to in this narration, it is almost inarguable that Dr. Atlas’ frequently self-serving narration will be proven by historians to be more presciently accurate than accounts drawn in the bizarre parallel universes of the mainstream media, Twitter and Facebook (a pox be upon all their houses).

[Sarah B · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was easy to read but also hard to read...

I know those statements contradict each other but it's true. It was easy because everything is written in a conversation type style and so it's easy to understand. The words flow smoothly. But it was hard to read for emotional reasons. Because once you start reading this and get a little bit into the book you realize that the people in charge of the Task Force had no clue what they were doing. And that is sad. Very, very sad. The "big shots" in charge didn't know how to read or analyze studies (is it even a good study?) and they came to meetings without any paperwork at all. They just kept parroting the same stuff over and over... While people died. Because they just kept doing the same things and those things didn't work. Plus the lockdowns themselves were a huge problem and caused many more issues. It's all in here.

So the author as a health policy scholar and years in medicine had a front row seat to what was going on in the White House. And he tells it all in this book. He gives lots of details to meetings with the Task Force and meetings with the President (President Trump). From what I read it seems Trump is a very logical no nonsense person. But the media hated him. Yet he was never scared of the media and knew exactly how to handle them. He wanted to reopen everything but others said no. And things got out of control, especially with the media causing panic.

The author also tells of his own problems with the media and the other politicians. Because he is not a politician. He came to the Task Force to state facts. But they play this other "game" and he doesn't understand it. And before he knew it the media was saying their own stuff about him.

So did I enjoy reading this? No, not really. It's not the type of book you read for fun or pleasure. It's serious about a very serious subject. I even had to take a break from this and read something else for a short time because there are some very heavy things in here. But this book certainly taught me how the White House works and how the Government works during this crisis. And the person I had thought was making all the big decisions because he was always on the videos - wasn't. He was there, yes, and got very famous but apparently he cannot even pronounce some medical terms! Yet everyone looks to him for guidance?

The author does often repeat himself. I did notice that. But he goes into great depth on what was going on. It's not a happy book. It's gloomy and points out huge problems.

But I did learn more about how the government works by reading this.

[Michael K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome book to read. Sadly, it showed a sad state of affairs on the part of the NIH & CDC people along with the committee over the "pandemic", so-called. While all was said to be based upon the "science", it was not by any means. When questioned by Atlas the chiefs of main organizations they had no studies and no reports to back their decisions. It was pure power politics. And, again sadly, with the impending election looming about the VP chose to not make waves with these two allies of the President. Which, with further research, showed they were less allies to the President and more subversive plants. A true disgustingly sad state of affairs! An excellent book and well worth the read, very illuminating.

[John L.. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truth will eventually prevail

Regardless of your political views, facts -documented facts need to determine actions and preparation. To accomplish this read this book.

[Eric C 1965 · Rating 5 out of 5]

We need real scientists like this to move beyond the present political virus sweeping the world.

[Don Gerstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

During our office discussions concerning the pandemic, more than once one of us wished we were privy to the inside knowledge of what was really going on and how were the decisions being made. Early on we had looked at some of the stats and realized that while the virus was dangerous, the percentages of people dying were not as high as the media made it seem, and certain age groups either had a high percentage and did not die from COVID-19 or it was incredibly dangerous to become sick.

Dr. Scott Atlas was hired by the Trump Administration to be a policy advisor and to examine the ramifications of any directives the Task Force suggested. His expectations seemed to be that everyone would work together, being that COVID was health danger and a priority for the United States as well as the world. Dr. Atlas was shocked to see that this was not the case. Worse, there was no logical examination of the facts, and thus the Task Force worked against the vision of President Trump but also ignored the data which would have offered a clear path to follow in order to lower the number of cases and thus protect American citizens.

The author will identify all the issues that kept the Task Force from doing the best job it could. This includes identifying the people who controlled the final message coming out of the White House. Even President Trump was not effective in some areas.

What bothered me most was the approach Dr. Atlas took toward the media. He mentioned numerous times that he could not understand why the press was so brutal, and I was happy to see he corrected that by addressing the partisan viewpoints and outright lies when his worked was maligned or misrepresented. For me, it filled in some of the blanks that I wasn’t aware of and confirmed other facts that I had deduced. Even now, there continue to be egregious errors in the way the pandemic is being handled as people like Dr. Fauci refuse to examine the facts and use common sense and logic to come up with a successful plan. As Dr. Atlas states, we will never eradicate the virus but we can take great strides in protecting our citizens and ensure the solutions developed do not make the situation worse. Five stars.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The science" of the pandemic has way less in common with a scientific approach than we are led to believe. Calling anyone who disagrees with The Correct View a fringe lunatic (and a Trump supporter and an anti-scientific hack) who wants to kill your grandma - their data, charts and appeal to critical thinking and reason be damned - is a hint.

The book gets 4/5 from me. The writing could have been way better, plus I don't care for Trump nor the politics of how we are supposed to think. Media and politicians surely tried to make that the defining criteria as to how we think about any aspect of the pandemic handling policies, and we fell for it, scared bleating sheep that we have been shown to be. The rating is for the gist of the book.

Handling of the pandemic has been so bungled and politicized, we still have both the same politicians and the same public health people doubling down on the wrongheaded tools, policies and decisions that have been amply shown to be pointless, wrong and harmful. So many countries - you know, radical and un-scientific ones like Switzerland - moved in an actual data supporting direction, once relevant data became available, and yet the USA, just like my own country of residence, is still living on the fumes of the massive group think, doubling down on decisions anyone who bothers to look can see have been useless at best and wrongheaded and harmful in so many ways, some yet to be realized fully.

What went wrong, when and how, and why is the self-correcting mechanism malfunctioning? We will find out, later than sooner no doubt. The hint of it is presented in this book.

Until then, the consequences of the decisions will be playing out as multiplying economic issues, societal dysfunction and too massive to account for personal suffering that, for the privileged, including all the talking heads and decisions makers, all free of consequences of bad models and decisions, remains not a tragedy but statistics.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the facts in this book, it was very insightful and gives a good understanding on what went on during some of those covid task force meetings. Ive had mixed feelings about pence for a while, but this just kinda gives us the evidence that he is a typical politician, just not bucking the system. Why anyone would give Birks or fouci any mind at this point, I just have a loss for words as to what kind of stupid that is.

What kinda disappointed me about this book was the amount of repetition. For some of the facts I can see there was a need to really emphasis them and repeating them was useful once or twice but there were several parts that were repeated more than that. Also, I wish Atlas would have really let Birks have it at some point, since the spineless VP wouldn’t. Also, I get the feeling Atlas has a stake somehow in vaccines cuz he has nothing bad to say about them. Hmmm.

My sincere hope is the history books will view Fouci and Birks as well as those Democrat governors like cuomo, Whitmer and that jackass from New Jersey, in the same view as Hitler, since they willfully and knowingly allowed the deaths of countless countrymen with their insane and deadly policies. The leadership in this country is disgusting.

It’s hard for me not to compare all books to the brilliance of Bobby Kennedy’s book so this is woefully inadequate but a lot less detailed and easy to get through. Worth a read but don’t pay full price.

[David P. Noyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Atlas Thank you for your service!

An awesome book which provides the complete background of someone actually followed the science during the time of all the covid misinformation and lies.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told me what I already suspected...no one was reading literature/thinking critically on the Task Force from the get-go. Fauci's agenda, not unlike his management of the AIDS crisis, continues. It's a shame there wasn't a more diverse panel from the beginning. Politics.

[Ronald Gruner · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sub-title of Dr. Atlas's book is "My fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America." By his own admission throughout his book, Dr. Atlas lost that fight. Has America been destroyed? I don't think so. Dr. Atlas's book, like the sub-title, is hyperbolic. The sub-title is also a preview of the book which describes how Dr. Atlas single-handedly fought the White House staff, Dr Fauci and Dr. Birx, the media, his colleagues at Stanford and much of the nation's medical community to redirect America's approach to the COVID pandemic.

Even the most persuasive advocative would have found it nearly impossible to change the nation's direction as radically as Dr. Atlas advocated. As he came to Washington in mid-2020, COVID death rates were on the rise after a brief pause over the summer. COVID deaths had entered a steep climb to over 4,000 a day by January 2021. Returning the country to normal (while protecting the most vulnerable, e.g. the older population, as Dr. Atlas advocated) during the worst health crisis in a century defied common sense for millions of Americans including the majority of the medical community.

Unfortunately, I found many of Dr. Atlas's arguments unpersuasive, and unsubstantiated. There are no end-notes in the book documenting sources. No bibliography. Not even a simple index. Dr. Atlas asks us to take nearly everything he claims on faith. The most documented part of the book is a series of nineteen charts showing mask mandates and their effect on COVID cases. I found the charts unconvincing since the charts showed case rates declining as often as increasing after the mask mandates.

In the end, I sympathized with Dr. Atlas. He clearly put his heart and soul into convincing a skeptical nation he had a better approach. But timing and his own strident arguments were against him.

[Debby HuntingtonDelgado · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew the lock downs were political crap

Living in the once great state of California, we've been through the worst government handling of a crisis that could happen. Groupthink prevails and, God forbid, you might think outside that box! So glad Dr Atlas wrote this book offering information we would have never had access to otherwise. So, so sorry prevailing policies in the form of biased media and overt politization prevented Pres Trump from continuing the great job he was doing for our country. Great read for those interested in the other truth!

[George O'Neil, Jr, MD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank God for Truth

I am an old retired Physician who was shocked and angered by the political destruction of our once honered freedom of speach in America. This is a perfect example of how far we have fallen from the ideals of our fore fathers. God help us!!


Dr Atlas please accept my gratitude for your courage taking the job and then writing this book.

[Jerry Gause · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scott Atlas exposes what really was going on on the Task Force and the incompetence of the CDC's leading members - Fauci and Birx. Data trends were not corrected to true time and left as reported time which lead to misinterpretation and disastrous recommendations and guidelines.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo to a truth teller

History will not be kind to the medical industrial complex that created out of whole cloth their management of the pandemic, ignoring guidelines from the pandemic plans written after the H1N1 pandemic

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading to understand just how wrong everything about this pandemic has been handled.

[Eric Chevlen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much needless suffering!

Dr. Scott Atlas served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force during 2020. He is harshly critical of the recommendations that Task Force promulgated. Atlas urged targeted protection of vulnerable communities (elderly, chronically ill, etc.). Lockdowns of almost the whole economy proved doubly disastrous, not slowing down spread of COVID, and whacking millions of workers thrown out of work. The closing of schools has set back the education of millions of children, affecting children of poor homes more than those who live in more affluence.

Atlas also points out the excess deaths due to the government response to COVID. These are due to missed cancer screening, missed treatment for cancer and heart disease, increased drug abuse and overdoses, increased suicides, decreased childhood immunizations. Those deaths actually outnumber the deaths due to the virus itself!

Atlas rails against the health bureaucrats who pushed the misguided agenda. He portrays Drs. Fauci and Birx as being unswayed by evidence, and engaging in back-stabbing of him and his position. He accuses the media of the failing to honestly portray his recommendations (misrepresenting his approach as a "let it rip" one encouraging widespread infection) and the facts about the evolving pandemic.

Atlas criticizes Trump for letting this panel implement the COVID response even against Trump's stated preferences. Atlas speculates that Fauci and Birx had become so endeared to the media (because they were seen as oppositional to Trump) that to fire them would lead to a storm of adverse reporting shortly before a hotly contested election. On the other hand, Atlas has praise for the Operation Warpspeed, which hastened the development and distribution of vaccines in literally record-setting time, far faster than had been predicted.

Atlas argues from a position known well to every medical practitioner: in considering an intervention, one must consider its adverse effects as well as its benefits. The COVID response promulgated by both the Trump and the Biden White House, and implemented by governors, in most states ignored the enormous costs to the economy and lives from their shutdown.

I don't know if Atlas' portrayal of Washington insiders is accurate, but his neglected prescription for managing the epidemic has been endorsed by the subsequent events.

Especially now, as the wildly contagious Omicron variant underscores the inefficacy of lockdowns, masks, and school closures, as well as the ongoing high survival rate of the non-elderly and non-ill, this history of the government's inept handling of the COVID pandemic is worth reading.

[Michael Peeples · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you knew from the beginning that the response to COVID-19 was pandemic was being handled incompetently by our medical leaders, our medical institutions, and bureaucracies then this book will piss you off because it will confirm everything you suspected.

If you are a Branch Covidian and a worshipper of Lord Fauci and Lady Birx, then this book will piss you off because it will show how groupthink, personal politics, and inflated egos of the "experts" on the Task Force systematically ignored data that contradicted their preconceived notions on what should be done and how it should be done.

This book also dispels a few myths. For instance, Dr Debra Birx was in charge, Fauci was not. He served primarily as the mouth piece to the media and sounding board for Birx. Meanwhile, it was Birx drafted up the guidelines and communicated them to the state governors (the data proves that the governors who did NOT follow her advice faired better).

Anyone who contradicted Birx would be shouted down. For example, when the data proved that the lockdowns she proposed and supported did not stop the spread of the virus, she pointedly refused to accept it and screamed at anyone who brought it up. (Since then John Hopkins University has published a widely reported study that showed that lockdowns caused more harm than good and made no difference in the spread of COVID).

Fauci approached contradictions differently --- he liked to leak stories to the press. He would frequently leak gossip, conversations out of context, and rumors to the press, and then deny that it was him.

VP Pence and the other members of the Task Force were all complacent in that they had a fear of Birx and Fauci, especially since the media fawned over them, and would allow the pair to do and say anything they wanted. Pence was trying to be a nice guy, others didn't want to rock the boat because of the upcoming elections.

President Trump handled this wrong in that he put Pence in charge, and rarely checked up on the Task Force. And when members of the Task Force finally decided to air their grievances to the VP and Pres, the decision was made to NOT fire either Birx or Fauci because (again) they feared the reaction of the already hostile press.

Basically 2020 was a shit-storm and everyone in power is at fault, from the president down to his staff, the Task Force, the bureaucrats, the scientists who fed the false narratives because failure to do so could result in future loss of government funding, to the media who had a personal vendetta against a man they didn't like and would do and say anything to get him out of office.

"Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is."
- Winston Churchill

[Adam Omelianchuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scott Atlas tells his side of the story in dealing with the "troika" of Birx, Fauci, and Redfield in his brief time at the White House, and advocates for the "focused protection" view of the Great Barrington Declaration along the way.

His eye-witness account of the inner-workings of the Trump administration during the summer and fall of 2020 is the most interesting part of the book.

Yet he claims something akin to biblical inerrancy when he says "every word in this book, every event described, every statement quoted, is absolutely true" (p. 6). This explains why there is not a single bibliographic citation in this book. Yes, he mentions several things he read and wrote along the way, but unless you are familiar with these pieces or willing to try to find them through Google with the little information he provides (when he provides it), he expects you to trust him to represent "the science" correctly in a way that ironically mirrors the way Birx and Fauci expect the public to do the same. Those interested in the science, and not some personality aligned with some favored side of the issues, will be disappointed. Atlas is correct that science invites debate, alright, but then he seems to not encourage it either given his own sense of infallibility.

It seems this book was also rushed to press, which would further explain the lack of documentation and an index, and the repetitive nature of the writing that could have benefited from more editing.

It also should change its subtitle to say: "My fight at the Trump White House to Stop the COVID LOCKDOWNS from Destroying America." That is what this book is about.

Disclosure: I was a post doc at Stanford during Atlas' tenure at the White House.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frustrating but important.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, Jeez, I'm pretty soon not going to have any friends (or family) if I keep reading this stuff! This is a book by a member of Trump's task force, you know, the guy painted by MSM as a radiologist or an unemployed forklift driver or something. Well, not so much! He was a Stanford professor concentrating on public health. Anyway, who to believe? Again, it doesn't appear that Atlas is being sued for his libelous book (and Birx would certainly seem to have cause) so I will just heave a sigh and take a big grain of salt with everything I read.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the beginning, I've been on the side of Dr. Atlas and like-minded people, and insofar as the book articulates and justifies what I consider to be important and fundamentally correct assessments, it deserves a 4- or even 5-star rating. But there's not much much new or illuminating in the book for anyone who followed events at the time, and the writing is pedestrian. In short, Dr. Atlas is among the 5-star people in the COVID-response debate, but his book is nothing special.

[Dave Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yep...we have been lied to all along. Good information on the whole Covid deal. Re-affirms that "The Science", while sketchy at best, has become a religion for many, including the elite class in Washington. Power and money main drivers over life and health.

[Steven H · Rating 1 out of 5]

AN ADVISOR TO TRUMP ASSERTS THAT ‘EVERY WORD IN THIS BOOK … IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE’

Dr. Scott Atlas wrote in the Introduction to this 2021 book, “The reader should feel confident of two certainties. One is that every word in this book, every event described, every statement quoted, is absolutely true. The second is that several people described in this book will vehemently deny its truth… because they will have been exposed … beyond the protection of their media allies… And I remain stunned at the acceptance by the American people of draconian rules, restrictions, and unprecedented mandates… that are … destructive, and wholly unscientific… we must still ask why so few were willing to speak out when the most disastrous health policies were foisted on ordinary people and … our children…” (Pg. 6-7)

In the first chapter, he asserts, “Dr. [Deborah] Birx, Dr. [Robert] Redfield, and Dr. [Anthony] Fauci… dominated all discussions about the health and medical aspects of the emerging pandemic. One thing was very clear---all three were cut from the same cloth. First, they were all bureaucrats… Second, they shared a long history in HIV/AIDS as a public health crisis…” (Pg. 12) He continues, “I asked myself, ‘Where are the critical thinkers?’ As a health policy researcher for more than fifteen years with decades in medical science and data analysis, I had never seen such flawed thinking. I was bewildered at … the reliance on fundamentally flawed science.” (Pg. 13)

He cites Dr. John Ioannidis (‘one of the world’s most renowned epidemiologists’), who “pointed out the simple biological fact that isolating young, healthy people with no significant risk for serious illness would reduce the chances of developing herd immunity, a biological phenomenon that protects the population and prevents death in high-risk individuals.” (Pg. 16)

In his publications of March and April of 2020, “I advocated a more focused protection model that would entail increasing protection of the elderly… because they were not being protected by the lockdown, while allowing younger, healthy people with an extremely low risk to function, so that the harms of the lockdown would end.’ The publication went viral…” (Pg. 24-25) He acknowledges, “But from a few colleagues at Stanford University, I received very different reactions. One psychiatry professor … warned me that ‘right wing media were using me.’ I was stunned… I was still naively assuming that … medical scientists would care about the data and nothing else… to admonish me because my analysis and policy views were aired on media they considered unacceptable? I was totally disgusted.” (Pg. 29)

He argues, “America was uniquely hysterical in its disregard of actual data on schools and children, more off the rails than almost anywhere in the world.” (Pg. 36) He continues, “serious health harms to kids, who had no significant risk from illness itself, were being created by school closures… approximately 300,000 unreported child abuse cases from those spring closures alone… one in four young people… had contemplated suicide… a tripling of self-harm in teenagers requiring doctor visits… anxiety and depression…” (Pg. 38)

He was called to the White House: “The vice president … excitedly showed me a … chart documenting the increasing number of PCR tests administered by the day in the United States. ‘Congratulations!’ I replied, feigning excitement. But inside, I realized something far more significant was being revealed. The White House was looking at … rudimentary numbers without detail… without any concept of what really mattered… That was my first ‘OMG’ moment. This seemed like a naïve reaction to political criticism, rather than… a focused, well thought out plan on how to stop the destruction from the pandemic. I knew the country was really in deep trouble.” (Pg. 53)

He explains, “The main reason for my presence was to impact policy… After all, I was a health policy expert, not an epidemiologist or virologist… my role was to devise a set of policies that minimized the harms of the pandemic… To delegate policy to people solely concerned with stopping the infection, without any understanding of the destruction of the lockdowns, would have been reckless. But that’s exactly what happened.” (Pg. 70)

He contends, “The problem was that the president’s message---end the lockdown and use a focused protection of the high-risk---was directly contrary the to lockdown message of the Task Force. Allowing the national policy message to be contrary to the message of the president … was a gross error. It allowed the destructive lockdown policy to remain in place and presented a picture of a chaotic national leadership… Those who advised the president to allow that to continue did him and the nation a tremendous disservice.” (Pg. 72) He comments, “while I didn’t want to believe it, everything about the pandemic was political.” (Pg. 96)

He recounts, “Expressing his opinion about the Task Force members to CNN on September 27, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci remarked, ‘Most are working together. I think, you know, what the outlier is.’ I was proud to be the outlier in this group---and not just because I was totally right, while the ‘inliers’ were disastrously wrong. My personal character and background also make me an outlier, particularly among the Washington political class and academic elites.” (Pg. 101)

He admits, “No question, the Trump administration’s communications team was overwhelmed; so perhaps I should have anticipated that they would also be unprepared for my casual introduction to the media… I assumed the White House team understood that if I was delegitimized, then the president would be undermined as well… An all-out attempt to undermine my credibility was immediately underway, involving gross distortions, straw man arguments based on blatant misrepresentations of my views, and straight-out lies… The media … [was] engaging in propaganda tactics scarcely different from those used by regimes like the USSR or Communist China.” (Pg. 123-124)

He observes, “Contrary to the stated policy of the president, though, the Task Force members were continually pushing their own advice to the public … I often wondered why they wouldn’t simply tell the president to his face they disagreed with him and at least have the integrity to say if he wanted other policies, they would resign. Instead, they chose to stay and put forth mixed messages to the public… This schizophrenic messaging from the White House, I believe, represented one of the president’s most significant errors of judgment… He relied too much on his most trusted political advisors. I recognized that their intentions were to help him win the 2020 election; that was their job.” (Pg. 130-131)

At his first Task Force meeting, “I… went into a very simple explanation of the concept of herd immunity, since dozens of people were listening to this meeting… I explained that if a large enough percentage of people had antibodies, they block the pathway of the spread, thereby preventing the unprotected from getting infected.” (Pg. 145) He continues, “I went on to … make the case that we should not lock down everyone, since that was enormously harmful… How did I know this? I had done the research myself in collaboration with scholars from three other academic institutions. I had analyzed the data in detail… The others on the Task Force clearly had not. Everyone was basically frozen;’ tension filled the room… Once the meeting adjourned, I left the Situation Room without lingering. I naturally assumed no one else agreed with me… I felt a little dejected but also angry. There were ‘America’s best doctors’?... The truth is that I was the only doctor in the room who ever spoke about the health harms of the lockdowns…” (Pg. 146-148)

He recounts, “Headlines were … breathlessly quoting ‘several anonymous sources’ said to be in the room who claimed I was ‘advising that we should let the virus spread’ or ‘advocating a herd immunity strategy.’ Of course, I had never said anything like that, not even remotely advocating that the infection be allowed to spread…” (Pg. 156-157)

He notes, “As the traveling representative of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Birx spoke about mandates and lockdowns, even when her statements directly conflicted with those of the president of the United States… It did not matter that her… restrictions… were not backed by sound science… When I asked [the VP’s chief of staff, and Trump’s Chief of Staff] how to handle questions about Birx’s discordant advice, there was one consistent reply from both: ‘We agree, Scott… but we don’t want to rock the boat.’ … I was frankly dumbstruck at the lack of leadership in the White House…” (Pg.187-189) He states, “To this day, I cannot understand why the human cost of the lockdowns never mattered to anyone else on the Task Force…” (Pg. 204)

He states, “the disconnect between the Oval Office and the rest of the White House had become severe. The president needed to understand… that some of the country’s leading experts disagreed with Dr. Birx’s recommendations… I had a gut feeling that, despite my warm welcome, academic expertise was not valued highly by this White House that prided itself on populism and distrust of technocratic elites.” (Pg. 209)

He argues in the book’s concluding Coda, ‘the most harmful distortion to the American public was … that I was advising the president to intentionally let the infection spread as a way to achieve ‘herd immunity.’” Nevertheless, he then approvingly reproduces ‘The Great Barrington Declaration,’ which clearly stated, “As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all… falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity… Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.’” (Pg. 327-328)

‘Absolutely true?’ Given his vehement criticisms of BOTH the ‘orthodox’ Birx/Fauci perspective, as well as of the Trump White House, it would seem to be “either Dr. Atlas, or the world.”