Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s Meet the Press opened his interview with Dr. Deborah Birx on Sunday morning by stating two whoppers against President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and Trump supporters. It is no surprise that Todd’s an unabashed critic of Trump, but usually, he doesn’t bother to slam Trump supporters.

Democrats and their cohorts in the media characterize conservatives, Republicans, and Trump voters as ignorant and wrong on how they are living life during the coronavirus pandemic. Todd outdid himself Sunday morning, though, when he said that it must be hard for public health officials to get the general public to abide by their recommendations on mitigating the spread of the virus. He clearly blames non-Democrat Americans and President Trump for the pandemic. He declared, “Half the country is not paying attention.” ” President Trump ignores coronavirus.” Fact check: neither of those statements is true.

The fact that Todd thinks half of the country – Trump voters – aren’t even paying attention to the coronavirus pandemic would be laughable if it was not so outright crazy. Everyone is paying attention. People act according to the risks they feel are involved. We can talk about people who do and don’t take the precautions recommended by health care professionals but if someone isn’t wearing a face mask in public, for example, it means they think masks are not useful in stopping the spread of the virus. It does not mean that person is oblivious to the fact that we are living in the time of a pandemic. There are plenty of hypocrites on the Democrat side of the political aisle that are not as vigilant about social distancing and face masks as health professionals would like to see. Look no further than at the halls of Congress where members walk the hallways maskless or stand side by side to talk to each other. Are they not paying attention?

President Trump is now credited with enabling the single most historic vaccine development program ever. Operation Warp Speed’s success is undeniable. The true denial being shown by the Democrat side of the aisle is giving credit to Trump for Operation Warp Speed. He recruited companies to manufacture and distribute PPE and he provided financial assistance to medical companies to produce a vaccine. He’s applied pressure to corporate leaders to work together in both vaccine development and in distribution once they are available. Trump was ridiculed by the left for imposing a travel ban from China and then Europe at the very beginning of the spread of the pandemic into the United States. Joe Biden called him a racist and xenophobe. Trump put Vice-President Mike Pence in charge of a White House coronavirus task force last January which brought in experts who are still working together today. People may argue about the President’s handling of communication or his own decision to mostly not wear face masks but to say he ignores the coronavirus is a lie.

Dr. Birx didn’t take the bait offered by Chuck Todd to criticize the president or his supporters. She did voice concern about false narratives out in public discourse, though, “This is not just the worst public health event. This is the worst event that this country will face, not just from a public health side.” I’ll note here that Dr. Birx wore a face mask during the interview, while the sanctimonious Chuck Todd was maskless. Is he ignoring the pandemic?

Birx’s comments add to a chorus of public health officials expressing concern about the growing wave of infections. Birx and others are worried about the growing numbers of hospitalizations and the fall-out from Thanksgiving holiday travel has not yet been measured.

On Wednesday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said that the coming months will be “the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.”

“This fall/winter surge is combining everything that we saw in the spring with everything we saw in the summer — plus the fall surge going into a winter surge. I think that’s why Dr. Redfield made this absolute appeal to the American people,” Birx said.

The Covid-19 pandemic is killing record numbers of Americans on a daily basis, and the numbers are expected to worsen as a result of gatherings held for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Birx repeated the same recommendations as usual but reminds that coronavirus fatigue is producing more lax behavior and that aids the spread of the virus.

Birx called on Americans to change their behavior ahead of the winter holidays. Despite her dire warning, she said that at this point “we know what behaviors spread the virus and we know how to change those behaviors.”

“We cannot go into the holiday season, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, with the same kind of attitude, that those gatherings don’t apply to me,” Birx said. “They apply to everybody.”

“If you do not want to lose your grandparents, your aunts, let’s be clear: If you’re over 70, 20 percent of those over 70 who contract Covid are hospitalized, and still, 10 percent of them are lost,” Birx added.

“So if you have anyone in your family with comorbidities or over 70, you cannot do those things. You cannot gather with your mask off, you cannot hug and kiss people outside,” she said.

Vaccines are coming. In the meantime, it is just as wrong for media personalities like Chuck Todd to blame Trump and Trump voters for the coronavirus as it is for Democrat elected officials, including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, to blame President Trump personally for coronavirus deaths.