[ad_1]
The daily beast
Trump fumes at Fauci, thinks he’s auditioning for CNN
In the last two weeks of his re-election campaign, President Donald Trump has focused much of his attention on venting his anger and insecurities against one of the top public health officials and members of his administration’s coronavirus task force, Dr. Anthony Fauci. For months, Trump has routinely gossiped with close associates and advisers that Fauci is behaving like a member of the anti-MAGA “resistance” commentators. In recent weeks, the president has told several people that he believes Fauci is trying to win the adulation of the media and that it sometimes seems to him that the famous infectious disease expert is “audition[ing]”Or” trying to get a job at CNN, “according to two sources with knowledge of his private comments. The result has been an increasingly open bitterness from the president towards Fauci even as the pandemic has worsened across the country. President Trump has not indicated that he plans to fire Fauci, said several people who have spoken to Trump about the doctor, in large part due to the political and media backlash that would invariably ensue. And Fauci recently told The Daily Beast that he has no plans to resign, no matter how awkward or messy the COVID task force becomes. However, Trump has told some close to him that as long as Fauci occupies his role in the government, and as long as the president occupies the White House, will continue to give Fauci a hard time in public to, in the characterization of one of these sources, “keep Fauci in his place.” Trump takes it out on Anthony Fauci, calling him a ‘Disaster’ and an ‘idiot’ about the coronavirus. On Monday, Trump called a campaign conference call from his hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, declaring: and all these idiots. ” The president also criticized Fauci as “a disaster”, noting that “every time it goes on television, there is always a bomb, but there is a bigger bomb if you shoot it.” On the same day, the president took to Twitter to protest the doctor’s judgment and decision-making, and to continue pestering him for throwing “perhaps the worst first pitch in baseball history!” In Arizona on Monday afternoon, Trump went ahead, saying that Fauci is a “very nice man” who “sometimes … says things that are a little strange.” “He’s been there for about 350 years, I don’t want to hurt him,” Trump added, while claiming that the White House COVID task force figure has made “bad decisions.” The president’s continued efforts to routinely humiliate Dr. Fauci come at a time when Democratic candidate Joe Biden leads in several polls in the final days of the campaign. For much of the past year, Trump has aggressively pushed for the “reopening” of the US economy at a speed that many public health experts, including Fauci, have deemed reckless at best and, in all likelihood, reckless. We have this ongoing challenge of not only public health guidelines, but now we have a president advocating for cures that don’t exist. We have several senators showing up in closed meetings without masks… they are modeling the worst possible behavior, ”said Kathleen Sebelius, former director of the Department of Health and Human Services. “What we are seeing is a president who has intentionally undermined what has always been an impartial voice of science. Since mid-March, when the president began to defy the guidelines and urge states to open when they weren’t ready … hundreds of thousands of people have died. ” White House spokesmen did not respond to a request for comment on this story Tuesday. It’s time for Trump’s top doctors to stand down and speak For months, Trump has sidelined Fauci and other voices in government whose proposals and data do not align with his vision to restart the economy and downplay aspects of the virus. . The latter has largely involved ignoring his own administration’s health guidelines, a decision that not only led to a massive COVID outbreak in the White House that infected the president himself, but also made it difficult for his task force to fight effectively. the virus. it corresponded with the ascension of Scott Atlas, who was described by a White House official as the “anti-Fauci.” Atlas, a neuroradiologist and member of the conservative Hoover Institution who joined the White House in August as one of Trump’s top advisers, got the job in large part because the president saw it on Fox News and was drawn to his vision. optimistic about the trajectory of the pandemic. . However, his critics and many scientists consider Atlas’s views and policy prescriptions to be so scientifically incorrect that even some Fox shows no longer want to hire him. And his presence in the White House has brought an additional layer of internal disputes and drama to the task force. Not one to hold back, Fauci has been open about his disagreements with Atlas. In a recent interview with AIDS and LGBT rights activist Peter Staley, he said: “There is another scientist person: Dr. Atlas, who is much more with the president than any of the other members of the task force, particularly Debbie Birx, who used to hold that position. This is a unique situation ”. Fauci has also been increasingly outspoken about the president’s lack of awareness of COVID-19, his reliance on Atlas, and his marginalization from the coronavirus task force. During a 60-minute interview on Sunday, he said he was not surprised that Trump was infected with the coronavirus while calling Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination ceremony a “super-spread” event. Fauci also openly criticized the Trump campaign for including him in a political ad that he did not sign. “By doing this against my will, they are actually harassing me,” Fauci told The Daily Beast. about getting votes, his harassment of me could have the opposite effect of discouraging some voters. “The friction between the two men may become more pronounced as the election approaches, but it has been there for some time as well.. Fauci began to gain greater national prominence during the coronavirus pandemic, Trump began to question his loyalty and his expertise. “What do you think of Fauci?” Trump questioned confidants over Easter weekend last April, also complaining. that he had made Fauci a “star” by allowing the task force member to be on television so often.In the months since then, various advisers and allies of the president have jumped on the train, lashing out at him. Fauci’s record, accusing him of being an anti-Trump leaker to the press and of speaking ill of him behind his back to Trump and his family. This summer, the White House even distributed to the media d e released a list of Fauci’s past comments and COVID-19 predictions that Trump and his team deemed flawed. The list exaggerated the flaws in Fauci’s actual record, as many of his early statements were qualified with concessions that little was known about the novel coronavirus. At the same time, Stephen Moore, a conservative economist who informally advises Trump on the coronavirus and economic policies, a different memo he had compiled about Fauci began circulating in the White House and elsewhere, simply titled “Dr. Wrong. ”“ Fauci was’ Dr. Doom, ‘”Moore told The Daily Beast in July. “I have no problem with him being ‘Dr. Doom ‘, but I have a problem with him being wrong, wrong, wrong … It has been a detriment to the economy reopening, with many of his false predictions. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top news delivered to your inbox every day. Register now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside delves into the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
