Turning 80-year-old National Institutes of Health [NIH] chief of infectious disease and allergy Dr. Anthony Fauci into an Election Year foil against 74-year-old President Donald Trump, Democrats and the media have their campaign strategy. Trump has been accused by Democrats and the press of grossly mismanaging the coronavirus AKA SARS CoV-19 or Covid-19 crisis from Day One, back in January. Trump was criticized for banning all Chinese flights into the U.S., an hour-late-and-dollar-short since millions of Covid-19-infected Chinese tourists traveled to he U.S., Europe and parts beyond in Dec. 2019. “Sorry Dr. Fauci! At least you know if I’m going to disagree with a colleague, such as yourself, it’s done publicly—and not cowardly, behind journalists with leaks,” Trump’s Deputy Chief of staff of communications Dan Scavino tweeted, Trump told Fox News host Chris Wallace.
Trump’s had his share on leaking from the White House for the last four years, largely over the Russian hoax, suggesting Trump worked for the Kremlin. With Fauci things are different, when the anti-Trump media looks for any chance to interview Fauci and point out Trump’s mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis. “Well, I don’t know that he’s a leaker. He’s a little bit of an alarmist. That OK. A little bit of an alarmist,” Trump said. Fauci and 62-year-old State Department infectious disease expert Dr. Deborah Birx hounded Trump to shut down the U.S. economy. Trump’s trying to figure out whether or not Fauci leaks, like former FBI Director James Comey, the primary unnamed source of the Russian hoax to the New York Times and Washington Post. Fauci seems to crave media attention, forever proving, at his advanced age, that he hasn’t lost a step in his medical advice.
Trump told Fox News’ Chris Wallace yesterday, that Fauci made several mistakes early on in managing the Covid-19 crisis, including opposing the Chinese travel ban and opposing wearing masks or face coverings, something he saw as unnecessary in February and March. Facuci’s since changed his tune on masks now the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] strongly recommends masks. Fauci claims he urged Trump April 13 to restrict travel to the U.S. “And the answer was yes,” Fauci said. “And then another time ‘we should do it with Europe,’ and the answer was yes. And the next time, ‘We should do it with the U.K.,’ and the answer was yes,” Fauci said. Only one problem, Trump banned Chinese flight Jan. 31, with Europe March 12, U.K. March 14 and Ireland March 14. a month before Fauci claims he urged Trump to ban travel from Europe, U.K. and Ireland.
Fauci, whether admitted to or not, is sensitive to his age, something he contends with everyday. What he’s still working at 80-year-of-age, heading up a NIH department is anyone’s guess. “With all due modesty, I think I’m pretty effective. I certainly am energetic. A I think everybody thinks I’m doing more than an outstanding job,” Fauci told Style magazine. “I don’t agree with the statement that if everybody [wears] a mask everything disappears,” Trump told Wallace, taking exception to Fauci’s new position on masks. “I don’t regret anything I said then because in the context of the time in which I said it, it was correct,” Fauci said, defending criticism that he once said a travel ban and wearing masks were unnecessary. What’s clear from Fauci’s interviews, he’s exploited for political purposes by the press to make Trump look bad. Yet Fauci seems overly concerned about correcting the record.
Democrats and the press have turned the Covid-19 crisis as the biggest reason Trump doesn’t deserve another four years. While there’s no way to know how Democrats would do things differently, there’s every reason to think it would be no different, if not worse. “We were told in our task-force meetings that we have a serious problem with the lack of PPEs and mask for the health providers who are putting themselves in harm’s way every day to take care of sick people. Fauci’s now uses his past opposition to masks for the public was due to shortages of supplies for first responders. Only one small problem with Fauci’s news excuse, he didn’t say it at the time, saying instead it wouldn’t help control the spread of the virus. “When it became clear that the infection could be spread by asymptomatic carriers . . . we had to strongly recommend masks,” Fauci said
Fauci’s sensitivity to any criticism stems from his age, long past due for retirement. Democrats and the media frequently call Fauci the nation’s leading expert on infectious disease, something so preposterous, so incorrect, so self-serving, to use his credentials against Trump. No one can possibly think that an 80-year-old is the nation’s leading expert on infectious disease. While Fauci has a lot of experience, there are countless infectious disease specialists in their prime ready to step up with more effective ways to manage the crisis. Telling businesses to shut down is not a plan, as most countries have found out. Nor is it a strategy to tell folks to wear masks, wash hands and maintain social distancing. Fauci sounds like a broken record giving advice to Democrat-friendly media looking to attack Trump for purely politics. Using the media to congratulate himself hits a new low.
