"Meet the Press" panelists Joe Scarborough and David Axelrod got into a heated debate Sunday morning over how the government is handling the Ebola scare.
Scarborough said his concerns about the deadly diseased were not calmed by White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer and CDC Director Tom Frieden, who had just been interviewed about the crisis, now that the first case has been diagnosed in America.
"No, I don't feel better, and I don't think most Americans feel better," Scarborough said, pointing out that although the public is being advised to "stay calm," the words sound much like what the World Health Organization said when the disease outbreak began in West Africa in the spring.
"And then they said let's stay calm when the head of Doctors Without Borders … went to them in late July and said, 'This is a crisis.' They said, 'You're panicking.'"
Scarborough said WHO has been "dismal" and has "ignored all of the warning signs." And, he said, the heads of the affected African countries have "failed miserably."
Americans are seeing what happened in Dallas, where hospital staff failed to catch the Liberia connection of the man now being referred to as "Patient 0," and comparing it to other recent government failures, such the Secret Service, the IRS, the VA and President Barack Obama initially calling the Islamic State (ISIS) a JV team.
"So when … any member of the government says, hey, just relax, everything's going to be OK, Americans don't believe that," Scarborough said.
Axelrod then interjected "I don't want to disagree with Dr. Scarborough, but …"
He noted that Frieden, and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the NIH are both "public health professionals of world-class standing" who have "no motivation to mislead the American people."
He added that in 2010 people were saying the Gulf oil spill was Obama's Katrina, but, "It wasn't even mentioned in the 2012 elections, because, ultimately, it was dealt with."
Scarborough didn't like Axelrod's "Dr. Scarborough" comment, saying "This is a serious issue. I'm quoting people who have had Ebola, who have spent time in West Africa."
But Axelrod countered that people like Scarborough who have a public platform can scare the public unnecessarily.
"When people like you, and people like us, go on television and say, this is far worse than they're saying, this is a reason to be afraid, then people respond to it," Axelrod said.
"I'm not saying that," Scarborough said. "You're hearing things I haven't said, David. What I'm saying is, we have to ask tough questions. So don't call me Dr. Scarborough here."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.