- Dr. Anthony Fauci was not happy with a recent Trump campaign video that used his remarks about the coronavirus out of context.
- Trump, in response, called Fauci a “Democrat” and said that he keeps him around because “he’s a nice guy.”
- Bill Gates defended Fauci, noting that he “has risen above the noise level, in talking about masks and best practices.”
Ever since the coronavirus pandemic began, Dr. Anthony Fauci and President Trump haven’t exactly been on the same page. Recently, the tension between the two intensified when Fauci on Monday said that the Trump campaign should remove a campaign ad featuring some of Fauci’s own remarks about the coronavirus.
As Fauci explained to CNN, he didn’t consent to his remarks being used in the ad and, beyond that, was displeased that the quote attributed to him was taken completely out of context and, as a result, was wholly misleading.
Fauci said the ad was “unfortunate” while adding: “I have never, either directly or indirectly, endorsed a political candidate. And to take a completely out of context statement and put it in which is obviously a political campaign ad, I thought was really very disappointing.”
As to the comment in question, the ad features Fauci saying the following in relation to Trump’s response to the coronavirus: “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more.”
Fauci clarified that the comment used in the ad was made months ago and was made in a broader context about the work federal public health officials were doing.
Predictably, the Trump campaign refused to budge, with a representative from Trump’s campaign noting: “These are Dr. Fauci’s own words. The video is from a nationally broadcast television interview in which Dr. Fauci was praising the work of the Trump Administration. The words spoken are accurate, and directly from Dr. Fauci’s mouth.”
Commenting on Fauci’s objection to the ad, Trump earlier today called Fauci a Democrat but said he’d keep him around regardless.
“Then you have my friend, and he’s a nice guy, Tony – Tony Fauci,” Trump said while speaking at a campaign rally earlier today. “He’s a nice guy, so I keep him around. Right? We’ll keep him around. But he’s a Democrat, everybody knows that.”
In the midst of all this, Bill Gates decided to enter the fray and defend Fauci by saying that the government is “undermining the credibility of the person who’s the most knowledgeable.”
“Dr. Fauci,” Gates added, “has risen above the noise level, in talking about masks and best practices, and so the fact that they’re trying to undermine him for some reason, that just blows the mind.”
Bill Gates’ full remarks, which were made during an interview on CNBC, can be viewed below:
