Donald Trump, on the other hand, has come under fire for his handling of the pandemic
Washington:
President Donald Trump complained Tuesday about the high approval ratings of medical expert Anthony Fauci and joked that “no one likes me” as he struggles to improve his position with voters for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It can only be my personality,” Trump said.
Fauci, an infectious disease expert who is part of Trump’s coronavirus task force, is one of the most trusted people in the government, and many Americans diligently listen to his advice on how to protect themselves from infection.
Trump, on the other hand, has come under fire for his handling of the pandemic, putting him in danger of losing the Nov. 3 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
Fauci’s issue came up at a press conference in which Trump defended his support for hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug, as coverage against the virus. Trump said he felt the drug worked “in the early stages.”
Most public health experts say that hydroxychloroquine should not be used to treat coronavirus because it could cause heart and other problems.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month revoked its authorization to use hydroxychloroquine for emergency use to treat COVID-19 after several studies questioned its effectiveness.
Trump said he and others in his administration deserved applause for his handling of the virus, not just Fauci and another prominent member of the task force, Deborah Birx.
“He is working with our administration and for the most part we have done more or less what he and others, Dr. Birx and others, who are excellent, recommended. And he has this high approval rating. So why don’t I have a high The approval rating and the administration regarding the virus? We should have a very high (approval rating), “Trump said.
“So it’s funny, a man works for us and yet they are very well thought out and nobody likes me. It can only be my personality,” he said.
The recent surge in deaths and infections in the United States has lowered initial hopes that the country has overcome the worst crisis that has decimated businesses and left millions of Americans out of work. Four US states in the south and west reported records of one-day coronavirus deaths Tuesday. The national death count is nearly 150,000.
Fauci has been debated in the White House for months because he is quite frank in saying where he agrees and disagrees with the president.
Trump has repeatedly said that Fauci advised him that he did not have to close travel to China, where the outbreak originated, earlier this year, when the scope of the pandemic was still unclear, and that he did not accept the advice.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows publicly chastised Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, for writing an op-ed attacking Fauci.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
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