Trump calls Fauci a 'disaster' and seeks to reassure his team he can win

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Trump calls Fauci a 'disaster' and seeks to reassure his team he can win

By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland

 

FILE PHOTO: Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S. June 30, 2020. Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS

 

LAS VEGAS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump called coronavirus expert Anthony Fauci a "disaster" on Monday, airing his frustration with the scientist during a call meant to reassure campaign staff he has a path to victory on Nov. 3 despite trailing in opinion polls.

 

Trump and Fauci, a member of his coronavirus task force, have been at odds over how best to handle a pandemic that has killed more than 219,000 people in the United States and weakened the Republican president's case for re-election.

 

Fauci, 79, who has served under Republican and Democratic presidents and is one of the most admired scientists in the United States, has urged that COVID-19 continue to be taken seriously. Trump has suggested the worst has passed.

 

"Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths," Trump said during the call, which the campaign allowed reporters to join.

 

Fauci has openly complained about being cited in a Trump re-election campaign advertisement that discussed the administration's pandemic response, and said in an interview broadcast on Sunday night by CBS' "60 Minutes" that he was not surprised Trump himself contracted the virus.

 

Trump, speaking from his signature hotel in Las Vegas ahead of two rallies in Arizona, said Fauci bombed during TV interviews but that it would be "a bigger bomb if you fire him."

 

Fauci's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Trump said Americans were fed up with pandemic restrictions.

 

"People are saying: 'Whatever. Just leave us alone.' They’re tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots," said Trump, whose rallies include many supporters not wearing masks and standing shoulder to shoulder, at odds with the guidance of Fauci and other public health experts.

 

"Fauci is a nice guy. He’s been here for 500 years," Trump added.

 

Republican Senator Lamar Alexander issued a statement calling Fauci, who has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, "one of our country’s most distinguished public servants."

 

President Donald Trump on Monday told reporters that the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has made "bad calls" when it comes to the handling of COVID-19 in the United States.

 

"If more Americans paid attention to his advice, we’d have fewer cases of COVID-19, and it would be safer to go back to school and back to work and out to eat," Alexander said.

 

Trump's conference call was intended to buck up his national team of campaign workers amid a spate of stories suggesting a campaign in turmoil.

 

With 15 days until Election Day, Democrat Joe Biden holds a lead in national opinion polls and in many battleground states where the election is likely to be decided.

 

"We have momentum at the exact time that we want momentum," campaign manager Bill Stepien said on the call.

 

Trump called news stories about internal strife "bullshit" and said he felt he was in a better position now than four years ago when he scored an improbable victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

 

"This is the best I’ve ever felt," he said.

 

Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said over the weekend that national poll figures were misleading because must-win states were close.

 

“Every indication we have shows that this thing is going to come down to the wire,” she wrote in a memo to donors.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Additional reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Howard Goller and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-10-20

 

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[Somtamnication 23,592]

He just now called him an idiot....what a nice guy!

[sezze 644]

I do not respond a lot about US politics , only sometimes when it get's over the top .

Dr Fauci is worldwide known as great specialist . His research is as good as it get's , and he won multiple rewards for it , from the medical world . On the other side there is supposed to be a selfmade billionaire , but selfmade isn't so selfmade if you got a lot of help from your rich father , and the billions so far aren't looking to good neither . Trump would do horrible in the science field . If the 2 speak , no matter what it would be about , i know who i would actually listen to what he has got to say .

[englishoak 9,571]

4 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

He just now called him an idiot....what a nice guy!

True hes not an idiot, just a disaster

[Lacessit 22,964]

Trump calling other people names, because they disagree with him. Yawn. So one-track.

 

[RJRS1301 9,826]

51 minutes ago, englishoak said:

True hes not an idiot, just a disaster

Trump of course has qualifications and experience  in medicine, science and community health. 

Choice between medical pandemic response from Fauci and Trump>> lets see who would you trust and choose, taking into account the ability to interpret facts and tell truth ?

??

 

[scammed 1,765]

1 hour ago, sezze said:

I do not respond a lot about US politics , only sometimes when it get's over the top .

Dr Fauci is worldwide known as great specialist . His research is as good as it get's , and he won multiple rewards for it , from the medical world . On the other side there is supposed to be a selfmade billionaire , but selfmade isn't so selfmade if you got a lot of help from your rich father , and the billions so far aren't looking to good neither . Trump would do horrible in the science field . If the 2 speak , no matter what it would be about , i know who i would actually listen to what he has got to say .

both are senile, take it as such and listen to neither

[sezze 644]

23 minutes ago, scammed said:

both are senile, take it as such and listen to neither

Even if they are both senile , Fauci is much more trustworthy then Trump . Remember 1 was thinking about injecting disinfectant .... i forgot who , maybe i am senile also .

 

Fauci only talks about disease/virus , and even senile he got more knowledge about that that many normal doctors . His trackrecord is something Trump cannot even get close to , no matter what he does in next 4 lifetimes .

Edited October 19, 2020 by sezze

[Fat is a type of crazy 1,142]

I think Trump's theory is that as long as what he's saying and doing get's talked about, it makes him look like action man, and will help his vote. 

Stop to think for a moment that Fauci, who has successfully worked for Presidents' from both parties, is now getting death threats and needs 24 7 security. 

I think most people see the end in sight and just don't care what nonsense version of events Trump is trying to sell. His appallingness never fails to disappoint. 

 

 

[PatOngo 44,846]

Sorry Donald, the disaster is YOU!

[stevenl 29,413]

29 minutes ago, sezze said:

Even if they are both senile , Fauci is much more trustworthy then Trump . Remember 1 was thinking about injecting disinfectant .... i forgot who , maybe i am senile also .

 

Fauci only talks about disease/virus , and even senile he got more knowledge about that that many normal doctors . His trackrecord is something Trump cannot even get close to , no matter what he does in next 4 lifetimes .

Plus Fauci seems to be a decent human being, who doesn't need to smear others in order to feel better himself.

[ThailandRyan 16,906]

All I can say is, if at first you don't succeed to derail a campaign before an election you just open up your mouth and try again.  If this guy gets elected after all the shenanigans then maybe he himself isn't such an idiot and he plays the drama card to the end much like a Thai Lakorn.

[placeholder 7,442]

1 hour ago, scammed said:

both are senile, take it as such and listen to neither

Clearly Fauci is senile because being able to discuss at length highly technical subjects in a socially appropriate way is one of the chief symptoms of senility.

[simple1 19,755]

2 hours ago, englishoak said:

True hes not an idiot, just a disaster

trump has complete ownership of the US response to Covid, no one to blame other than himself. trump's latest grievance outburst is a reaction to Fauci's 60 Minute interview - usual spiteful reaction to criticism. trump is the 'idiot' for only believing in his enablers and refusing to acknowledge the fact of accelerating deaths and new infections across the US.

 

The only reason trump doesn't fire Fauci is because it would loose him more votes - in other words Fauci has more credibility than trump with the majority of US citizens - so who's the fool?

Edited October 20, 2020 by simple1

[Chomper Higgot 35,677]

The basis of Trump’s whining about Fauci are two fold:

 

1. Fauci’s popularity on TV and the ‘airtime’ he gets.

 

2. Fauci was honored with throwing the first pitch of the 2020 baseball season.

 

That’s how fragile and childish Trump is.

 

He needs to quit whining and focus on prison reforms.