DEADLY INCOMPETENCE
Pence Chief of Staff Made Decision on Masks That Paved the Way for Them to Be Politicized – Leading to Massive Death

In 2020 Marc Short, the chief of staff to then-Vice President Mike Pence, made a fateful decision that paved the way for the politicization of wearing masks. Had he chosen differently there’s no question countless lives could have been saved.
Short, who once served as the executive director of the far right Young America’s Foundation, “focused on the political and economic implications of the coronavirus response and approached many public health decisions by considering how they would be perceived,” The Washington Post reveals. That report comes from a deep-dive into the Trump pandemic response detailed in the new book, “Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History,” by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.
In possibly the most damaging of those decisions, Short nixed a plan, which was far along enough to have a PR campaign already created, to send face masks to every household in America. The Dept. of Health and Human Services was backing the program, while other reports have revealed the U.S. Postal Service was also working on it.
If it had been executed, “some public health experts think [it] would have depoliticized mask-wearing,” The Post reports, but Short believed it “would unnecessarily alarm people.”
Previous Post reporting revealed the program would have flooded the nation with 650 million face masks, five for every U.S. household.
Short has a long history of focusing on optics instead of fact-based communication to the public. As far back as the 1990’s he labeled efforts to educate the public that HIV and AIDS do not only affect gay people a “propaganda campaign,” a “distortion campaign,” and “intentional deception.”
And he called gay people “sodomites,” while attacking “the perverted lifestyles homosexuals pursue,” and delivered a warning to not “glorify homosexuals’ repugnant practices.”
Short tested positive for coronavirus in October.
Americans were already alarmed, but Short’s and the White House’s focus on optics and pretending the coronavirus was not as dangerous and deadly as it in fact is, according to Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths that could have been avoided.
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
![]() |