We all knew this was coming.
Donald Trump has officially turned on Dr. Anthony Fauci, stepping up his assault on science and knowledge at a time when we can least afford it. The Washington Post reported Sunday that the Trump administration is attempting to publicly discredit Fauci, the widely popular and trusted infectious-disease expert who has worked for six presidents. Fauci’s crime is that he has been desperately trying to tell Americans the truth about COVID-19 and warn us about the ongoing danger.
That doesn’t jibe with Donald Trump, who is pushing to reopen society and send our children back to school as confirmed daily coronavirus cases top 70,000. Fauci warned last week that daily cases could soon exceed 100,000 if we don’t start taking the threat more seriously.
Trump, who hasn’t met with the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in six weeks, begs to differ. He seems to think everything is just fine.
Who are you going to believe?
Dr. Fauci is a national hero and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, the highest honor our country bestows on a civilian. He is a scientific expert at the top of his field and has worked indefatigably for decades for the benefit of mankind. He is a bipartisan figure, and previously worked for presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Donald Trump is a pathologically lying narcissist and con artist, who has run the country into the ground, like he did with several of his bankrupt businesses. The president rejects science and medical expertise, suggested we drink bleach to protect ourselves, and obstinately refused to take the most basic step of wearing a mask until this past weekend. The man has also endangered lives by negligently staged indoor and tightly-packed outdoor rallies, all to feed his ego, despite continuous objections from health officials.
ABC News reported Sunday that aides to Trump refer to Fauci as, “Dr. Gloom and Doom.” Well, newsflash: There isn’t much good news to report. The COVID-19 death toll has now exceeded 136,000 people, and hospitals in the South and West have been overrun with the sick and dying.
The White House contends Fauci has made statements in the past that, with the passage of time, have proven incorrect. Early in the crisis, it is true that Fauci recommended the public not wear masks. However, there is a legitimate explanation why he was forced to do that.
During the early days, hospitals were under-equipped with PPE and didn’t have nearly enough masks to go around. Fauci, wisely, wanted to prevent a run on masks that would have made it even more difficult to distribute them to under-supplied medical personnel. Once doctors and nurses had what they needed, then the public was advised to wear them.
Furthermore, in a manner that is typical of this dishonest White House, the leaked memo distorts some of Fauci's statements, intentionally taking them out of context to make him look bad. Then, there is this fact: Experts knew very little about the virus in January and February and were going on incomplete information.
Once Fauci and his team learned more, they updated their guidance. That’s what experts do. Trump, on the other hand, continues to live in a world of wishful thinking and is slow to change course, even when the dire reality of the situation is painfully obvious to everybody else.
White House officials have provided journalists with what is known as opposition research, as if Fauci is some kind of political opponent. That tells us everything we need to know about how Trump and his minions think. Fauci is the one man in the administration who is doing everything in his power to save as many lives as he can.
The White House should be leaning on Dr. Fauci's expertise and implementing his advice.
Instead, they see him as the competition.