GA-07: Who Does Rich McCormick Stand With: Trump Or Georgia's CDC?
SUWANEE, GA — On Wednesday, President Trump attacked CDC Director Robert Redfield over widely-held views regarding a vaccine timeline and the effectiveness of wearing a mask. The president’s actions occurred days after breaking reports that a top Trump administration official accused employees of the Centers for Disease Control — headquartered in Georgia — of "sedition," Meanwhile, Republican Rich McCormick has still refused to speak up in their defense. Democratic nominee for Georgia’s 7th Congressional District Carolyn Bourdeaux released the following statement:
"We are facing an unprecedented pandemic and leaders should stand with science and experts, not reckless political attacks on the doctors and researchers who will help us beat this virus. In spite of President Trump’s attacks on Georgia’s CDC, Rich McCormick is once again characteristically silent while Georgians’ health is on the line. Rich, Georgians deserve to know: Do you stand with President Trump’s attacks on science, or do you support Georgia workers at the CDC?"
McCormick has repeatedly contradicted public health experts and covered for President Trump's failed COVID-19 response:
On February 27th, Rich McCormick echoed claims by President Trump suggesting COVID-19 was no big deal, saying, “nobody in the United States has died from [coronavirus]. We have zero cases in Georgia. To put this in perspective, 12,000 people die a year of the flu.” McCormick's misinformation came less than 24 hours after Trump falsely said COVID-19 was like the regular flu and “we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.”
On February 29th, Rich McCormick criticized Democrats for saying “President Trump…hasn’t done enough…yet they have fought him taking steps to protect our country since the beginning of [coronavirus].”
On March 9th, Rich McCormick retweeted a post from President Trump that downplayed the severity of coronavirus by comparing its effects to that of the flu.
On March 9th, Rich McCormick blamed the media for “creating panic and hype to create headlines” regarding COVID-19 as cases in the United States began to spike.
On March 10th, Rich McCormick followed President Trump's lead in claiming that “the media has made this much worse than it actually is” in regards to the virus and again implied that the seasonal flu is worse than COVID-19, a Trump talking point repeatedly debunked by public health experts.
On March 16th, Rich McCormick erroneously claimed that coronavirus would be “a bad memory” in “two months,” echoing claims by President Trump that COVID-19 would "disappear" even as he failed to take meaningful action to control the spread of the virus.
On March 19th, Rich McCormick tweeted in defense of President Trump, saying his response would “save lives.”
On April 8th, Rich McCormick retweeted a post by President Trump that read: “FLATTENING OF THE CURVE!” and responded: “This is fantastic news! I believe the best is yet to come!!”
On April 9th, Rich McCormick said President Trump was doing everything in his power to fight COVID-19. One week prior on March 31st, Trump had predicted that the virus would go away by the end of April.
On April 9th, Rich McCormick touted the supposed benefits of hydroxychloroquine, which was recently banned by the FDA for emergency use due to health risks.
On May 16th, Rich McCormick tweeted the following in support of President Trump and Governor Kemp’s reckless push to reopen: “As an ER doc in Georgia I support @GovKemp and @realDonaldTrump decision to be bold and reopen this country!”
On May 26th, Rich McCormick said Governor Kemp “made a bold move to open back up” and claimed “data shows we’re doing it safely.”
On June 1st, Rich McCormick appeared on One America News Network and claimed that the disease “wasn’t spreading” because people are developing a “herd immunity” to the disease and claimed that a “vast majority – especially young people – are not getting sick.” He also repeats that hydroxychloroquine “is a very safe drug.”
On July 3rd, Rich McCormick promoted hydroxychloroquine for a third time. Two days prior, Trump again falsely claimed COVID-19` would "just disappear" as cases in Georgia skyrocketed.
On July 9th, Rich McCormick was interviewed in person (while not wearing a mask) and downplayed COVID-19 yet again, saying “for the general public, young healthy families, I am just not all that concerned.” Gwinnett County recently crossed the 10,000 case threshold, and has seen a sharp uptick in cases among young people.
On September 8th, Rich McCormick again falsely claimed the country had reached "herd immunity" and promised a vaccine would be available by November 1st. He also again repeated false claims that young people aren't at risk of dying of COVID-19, claiming, "The youth are not at risk of this disease. I know there is a lot of scary news stories out there, but realize that you're much more likely to be killed by lightning than coronavirus if you're a young, healthy person."
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