Tensions between President Donald Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci are heightening after Dr. Fauci decided to speak out more about the virus, which goes against everything the White House has been saying.
What We Know:
- Recently, Dr. Anthony Fauci has become increasingly vocal about his concerns with the virus and President Donald Trump’s decision to reopen the country amid the national surge in coronavirus cases, which doesn’t correspond with what the President has been saying.
- Because of Dr. Fauci’s urge to finally speak up, he’s been under fire by Trump and his administration, causing tension between the two. According to CNN, the two have not spoken to each other but they have responded to one another through interviews and statements.
- For example, during his Fourth of July speech, Trump falsely claimed that 99% of coronavirus cases are “totally harmless”. And in an interview with the Financial Times, Dr. Fauci disputed that claim. “I’m trying to figure out where the president got that number,” Dr. Fauci said. “What I think happened is that someone told him that the general mortality is about 1%. And he interpreted, therefore, that 99% is not a problem, when that’s obviously not the case.”
- Without acknowledging the President’s false claims, a White House official brought up examples of times where “Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things,” bringing up comments from Fauci early in the pandemic about how “people should not be walking around with masks”.
- On Tuesday, Trump disagreed with Fauci in an interview when questioned about Fauci’s claim on the US still being “knee-deep in the first wave” of the pandemic. “I think we are in a good place,” he said. “I disagree with him.”
“Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes.”
- But it’s not just Fauci who has been targeted by Trump and his administration. On July 12, Trump retweeted a tweet from Chuck Woolery, telling people that the media, CDC, Democrats, and doctors aren’t to be trusted because “everyone is lying ” about the virus.
The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most ,that we are told to trust. I think it's all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I'm sick of it.
— Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) July 13, 2020
- But this is believed to divert the attention from the government’s failure to get the virus under control and push for Trump’s call to reopen the country.
Another key factor in the tension between Fauci and Trump is the fact that Trump is irritated with the “good press” Fauci has been getting and how he has emerged as something of a pop culture icon over the past few months when he appeared on Instagram live chats with celebrities like NBA star Steph Curry about the coronavirus.
