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| Anthony Fauci |
The Trump administration’s decision to declare PR war on Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the only straight-shooters on the White House COVID-19 task force, isn’t going to work.
Team Trump has gone into full attack mode against the nation’s top infectious disease doctor as part of its re-election strategy.
The White House press team got the ball rolling, sending reporters opposition research on Fauci, alleging missteps that he made during the early months of the pandemic.
And then noted medical genius and White House trade advisor Peter Navarro penned a blistering op-ed piece in USA Today, saying Fauci “has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.” He now only listens to Fauci’s advice “only with skepticism and caution.”
Peter should have been more cautious in putting together his hit job on Fauci. In his zest to torpedo Fauci, Navarro’s piece contained “fake news.”
Bill Sternberg, editorial page editor, wrote that "several of Navarro’s criticisms of Fauci—on the China travel restrictions, the risk from the coronavirus and falling mortality rates—were misleading or lacked context. As such, Navarro’s op-ed did not meet USA Today’s fact-checking standards.”
And then there is Dan Scavino, the White House deputy chief of staff for communications, posting a cartoon mocking Fauci. Aren’t we having lots of fun?
Fauci cannot figure out in his “wildest dreams” why he is being targeted by members of the administration, but he wants them to stop the nonsense and put an end to the games.
“It distracts from what I hope would be the common effort of getting this thing under control, rather than this back-and-forth distraction, which just doesn’t make any sense,” Fauci told The Atlantic magazine on July 15.
That’s just it. The White House wants it to appear that Fauci’s future warnings about COVID-19 also just don’t make any sense.
Donald Trump has a single mission: re-election. Since COVID-19 is the No. 1 obstacle to the re-election mission, he must spread lies that the virus is under control and urge parents to send their kids back to school ASAP.
Fauci speaks the unvarnished truth about the dangers of COVID-19. The administration is attacking him to undermine his credibility when he warns America that the virus isn’t just going to just disappear—despite what the president says.
The administration faces an uphill battle in undermining Fauci’s authority on COVID-19. The American people are standing by the 79-year-old Brooklyn native.
A Quinnipiac University poll released July 15 found that 65 percent of voters trust COVID-19 info provided by Fauci. Only 26 percent don’t.
It’s the reverse situation for Trump, 67 percent don’t trust him on COVID-19 information.
Fauci also got a PR boost from Melinda Gates, who leads the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with her husband and Microsoft founder Bill Gates
She praised Fauci and his colleague Deborah Birx on July 15 as the only figures in the White House who understand the severity of the pandemic. Gates is “deeply disappointed” by Trump’s position on COVID-19.
She had this warning for Trump:
“I think you’ll see the American people speak in the fall,” Gates told the Financial Times. “The populace needs to speak out against any leader that’s not using the tools and the data available to fight COVID-19.”
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