Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, one of the nation’s most visible public health leaders and a longtime trusted voice for LGBTQ+ communities, has resigned from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He denounced what he describes as a wholesale dismantling of science under President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Daskalakis posted his blistering resignation letter on X and Instagram on Wednesday evening. In it, he said he would step down as director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases on Thursday, citing irreconcilable ethical and scientific concerns.
I never understand how this helps anything. “Things are so bad here that I’m going to leave and let someone on the side of chaos take over!”
Because they don’t want to be personally or professionally liable for the disaster.
And this government is likely to pull some bullshit if they were to speak out from their position.
For actually qualified people and experts in the field it is a balance act between being able to push back against dangerous or stupid policies and legitimizing those stupid and/or dangerous policies by having your name associated with them. I guess the balance finally tipped for him.
It’s no fun trying to achieve things in an environment where everything is working against you. It can be, and often is, harmful
No, I understand the feeling. “No matter how hard I work, they’re actively working towards sabotaging my efforts and they have the final word on everything. They control public comm, so they can constantly lie while officially representing the rest of us.”
It’s resignation or depression/burn out.
It’s naive and easy to just say he could have fought this from inside. What do you think he tried to do in the past months?
Its hard to work your whole life around something without caring. Its easy to say just fuck around.
Still 3yr 4months to go.
I have a hard time fathoming where we will be by then.
You hear the distant drums of another tribe as the sun is setting over the north american wasteland. A hooded traveler appears in front of your gates and demands entrance. His name is xXThundercockXx123 and he declares that in the name of DOGE your budget of sticks and rocks is being cut to save costs. Only a few months left to go you think. Only a few months left.
Pretty crazy the amount of damage they did in such a short time span…
There’s a reason it’s called Project2025. They weren’t planning to wait until 2026.
I fail to see how this is either good news, or helpful in any way. We don’t need these people bailing on us. Now is when we need them the most.
Honestly, he was in that position to do a job which he is no longer able or allowed to do. And, worse, he was going to be forced to do things that are unethical. Fired or quit, with this administration it makes no difference either way.
The overwhelming majority of the voting eligible population demonstrated that this is what they want, either by voting directly for it or by not voting at all. Not that I’m saying this how he feels, but I can understand if he’s thinking “I’m not the magical
negrohomo who’s going to save the country from itself.”As a fellow LGBTQ+ citizen, I am just tired, tired. I spent decades working towards some semblance of equality where even many of my allies were otherwise of the opinion “I have no problem with gay people, BUT” – then would come up with things like “I think we should let them have civil unions instead” or “all you have to do to not get AIDS is use condoms” or “if they [those other gay men but not you] didn’t act so flamboyant in public, nobody would care what they do in the privacy of their own homes”.
I guess what I’m saying is, it’s complicated, and I don’t know that I wouldn’t make the same decision.
So courageous, so brave, so utterly full of shit.
Know how you take a stand? It’s not by quietly resigning. Gum up the works until you force them to fire you.
Oh they took all your responsibilities away? You can still cause a ruckus. Unplug computers, or servers if you can access them. Delete random files or edit them with garbage. Pull fire alarms “accidentally”. Start hanging pride flags everywhere. Straight up ignore office rules or directives. Make a fucking scene. None of these will lead to criminal charges. Your reputation won’t be ruined because being fired “for cause” under this administration is meaningless.
Ouch.
