In a clear warning sign that President Donald Trump is about to fire National Institutes of Health Infectious Diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump spent the weekend asking about him during phone conversations and even retweeted a #FireFauci post.
The death toll in the United States has swelled to 22,000 and more than half a million Americans are infected with the coronavirus as the pandemic continues to rage on. Now more than ever, our nation needs health officials such as Fauci to be front and center. But Trump has repeatedly shoved him and other experts out of the way because he wants the spotlight for himself.
That’s why his press conferences are basically campaign rallies where Trump brags about himself and spreads lies and propaganda pretending he has responded perfectly to the crisis.
Fauci, however, has been a foil by speaking frankly about the virus and what Americans need to do to prevent themselves from contracting it. Fauci even admitted on Sunday that Trump could have saved lives by responding to the pandemic much earlier when he had the chance.
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Obviously, Trump supporters don’t like to hear facts that contradict the lies they are told. So, they are demanding Trump fire Fauci. And it looks like Trump is considering it.
According to The Daily Beast:
Over the weekend, the president picked up the phone and began dialing various close advisers and associates to ask them their opinion on how soon he should ‘open’ the U.S. economy and call for Americans to start resuming business as usual, according to three people familiar with the conversations.
‘What do you think of Fauci?’ the president repeatedly worked into his phone conversations over the past few days, the three sources said, as he pulsed his broader network of informal advisers, industry allies, and current staff on their opinions on the news of the day. At one point this weekend, Trump remarked that he’s made Fauci a ‘star’ and that barely anybody would have known who the doctor was were it not for the president putting him front and center in the administration’s coronavirus response, televised press briefings, and media strategy.”
Trump even retweeted a supporter who posted a tweet with the hashtag #FireFauci.
Sorry Fake News, it’s all on tape. I banned China long before people spoke up. Thank you @OANN https://t.co/d40JQkUZg5
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2020
It seems pretty clear that Trump is leaning towards firing Fauci. Of course, Fauci has been well known for years by the American public because he was one of the faces on our screens keeping us informed during the Ebola epidemic in 2014. The idea that Trump made him a star is preposterous. He’s been in the same job for nearly four decades.
Firing Fauci would be yet another mistake by Trump at a critical time in our nation. Fauci is popular and Americans overwhelmingly trust him more than Trump to tell them the truth about the pandemic and what they need to do to survive it. Trump, meanwhile, is only interested in denying he responded recklessly to the pandemic and has fumbled the response time and time again while caring more about the stock market than the public health and safety.
If he fires Fauci, more Americans will be misinformed and more will end up dying. It’s that simple.
Featured image via screen capture
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