MOJO Academy Book Brief #7 -- A Plague Upon Our House

Book Title: A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America
Author: Scott Atlas
Publishing Year: November 2021
Number of Pages: 352
Audible Time: Approximately 10 hours

Brief Summary

A Plague Upon Our House by Scott Atlas offers a vivid and most authentic look at the COVID-19 pandemic from the inside. Inside the White House, that is, as a physician and health policy expert, Atlas shares his firsthand experiences as part of the White House Coronavirus Task Force under President Trump (VP Mike Pence actually chaired the Task Force) in the summer and fall of 2020.

In the book, Atlas dives into his frustrations with what he sees as flawed public health policies, groupthink among officials, and the lack of real scientific debate during the crisis. What I really love is how Scott takes us along on his journey as someone fighting for better health care policies. Plus, I appreciate that he doesn’t hold back—he names names and calls out those he believes caused the most harm, including Drs. Fauci and Birx.

Atlas was hesitant to jump into the fight, but when he did, he went all in. He takes a hard look at measures like lockdowns, school closures, and mask mandates, pointing out that they often weren’t backed by solid science and caused a lot of unintended harm. Through his personal stories, he gives readers an inside look at what it was like to push for alternative strategies in a messy mix of science, politics, and public health.

Well-researched and incredibly personal, A Plague Upon Our House really challenges the mainstream narrative about the pandemic response. It pushes readers to think critically about how public health decisions are made. When it came out, it was definitely a provocative read, but over time, Atlas has been proven right on so many points. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis followed his advice, and Florida thrived in late 2020 and beyond. Honestly, I just wish President Trump had listened to Atlas more than Drs. Fauci and Birx. Either way, this book is a must-read if you want to better understand how we should handle future pandemics and the healthcare policies we need moving forward.

Two Important Quotes

#1—Two Certainties

"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. That is expected, not only because they will have been exposed in the light of day, beyond the protection of their media allies, but also because we have already witnessed their behavior with regard to the truth. We should know who to trust by now.

In considering all the surprising events that unfolded in this past year, two in particular stand out, I have been shocked at the enormous power of government officials to unilaterally decree a sudden and severe shutdown of society--to simply close businesses and schools by edict, restrict personal movements, mandate behavior, regulate interactions with our family members, and eliminate our most basic freedoms without any defined end and with little accountability.

And I remain stunned at the acceptance by the American people of draconian roles, restrictions and unprecedented mandates, even those that are arbitrary, destructive and wholly unscientific. The acquiescence of the citizenry to such extraordinary and ill-conceived restrictions in a nation that was founded on the principles of freedom from an overbearing government, in a country that stands as the world's beacon for independence and liberty, is nothing less than shocking."

(this quote sets the tone for the whole book)

#2—Same Healthcare Advisor, Two Totally Different Outcomes

"As I was sitting at my desk overflowing with papers and notes and going through about thirty websites that I kept open, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called me. He briefly introduced himself and asked me a series of specific questions about the pandemic. But the unique and impressive nature of the call was that this governor had an extraordinarily high level of familiarity with the data—and not simply the data in Florida. He had at his fingertips all the key statistics and trends from the rest of the country, as well as Europe and elsewhere. DeSantis kept posing his interpretations and asking if he was correct. He was virtually always right. Moreover, he displayed an amazingly sophisticated grasp of the scientific literature—far better than the “credentialed experts” appearing on cable TV.

Given that Florida was particularly vulnerable due to its high concentration of elderly, he was focused on how to protect them. The governor was shocked at the New York governor’s directive plainly ordering that COVID-positive patients discharged from hospitals could not be prevented from returning to nursing homes (“No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19”). The Wall Street Journal reported this at the end of March, and I was stunned. I told DeSantis that the policy was totally inexplicable, grossly incompetent, and in my opinion a complete disqualifier for anyone in a leadership position.

(I only wish that President Trump would have listened and acted on Dr. Atlas's recommendations and not solely relied on VP Pence and his recommendations from the COVID19 Task Force--but hindsight is 20/20. But reading the book will give more of these details. )

Nuggets of Wisdom!

Reading A Plague Upon Our House really got me infuriated about how health care bureaucracy and how we handle public health crises. We should never leave our health care policy to just one person and not a whole committee of all the experts. Atlas shares this very type of thinking. His honest and sometimes fiery take on his time with the task force showed just how tough it is to push for evidence-based policies in such a political environment. It made me reflect on the tricky balance between being cautious, trying new approaches, and protecting freedoms during unprecedented times.

Where I gained the most respect for him was trying to present evidenced based peer reviews to the COVID19 Task Force. You’ll definitely want to pay close attention to those chapters! One of the standout moments in the book is when he introduced Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to the president. They had a great meeting, but unfortunately, nothing really came of it. Fast forward to early 2025, and it’s exciting to see the 47th president appoint Dr. Jay to lead the National Institute of Health. Hopefully, the Senate confirms him, and the 47th president gets a chance to make up for what the 45th didn’t do. Fingers crossed!

Final Recommendation

A Plague Upon Our House is a must-read for anyone curious about the chaos surrounding the COVID-19 health care crisis at the highest levels of government. It gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the conversations and decisions happening where science, public policy, and politics collide. If you’ve ever wondered how political environments can shape—or completely derail—crisis responses, this book is especially relevant. Whether you agree with Atlas’s perspective or not, I personally find his views compelling and very close to the truth as it happened, especially considering the health policy outcomes we saw in Florida from 2020 to 2022. Love it or hate it, this book will make you rethink how we deal with big challenges like pandemics. I highly recommend this book!

If You Liked This Book, You Might Like These:

• The Real Anthony Fauci by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – As our new Health and Human Services secretary (early 2025), his take on public health leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially his critique of Dr. Anthony Fauci, is super relevant right now.

• Faucian Bargain by Steve Deace and Todd Erzen – This audiobook is just under 3 hours long and was published in March 2021, about a year after the first lockdowns began. It dives into Dr. Anthony Fauci’s actions and decisions during the pandemic, offering a detailed critique of the policies that shaped America’s COVID-19 response. This book and Steve Deace's podcast were a real light in the darkness for so many of us who felt something was seriously off with how our federal, state, and local leaders handled the crisis. And at the center of it all? Dr. Anthony Fauci. Another must read for history's sake.