- Dr. Anthony Fauci recently defended himself amid complaints that he’s mishandled the coronavirus pandemic.
- President Trump recently lamented that Fauci has a higher approval rating.
- Trump supporters have suggested that Fauci’s coronavirus response strategy has been flawed.
For reasons that still don’t make much sense, the manner in which people view the coronavirus has become something of a heated and divisive political issue. So while it would clearly be beneficial for people in the U.S. to come together and get on the same page when it comes to combatting the coronavirus, that’s not how things have played out over the past few months.
Part of the problem is that many of our country’s leaders can’t even get on the same page when it comes to the coronavirus. Case in point: President Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci have seemingly been at odds for weeks on end in regards to the country’s coronavirus response. The tension between the two reached a new level of absurdity recently when Trump lamented the fact that Fauci has a higher approval rating than he does. Even before that, Trump would on occasion espouse COVID-19 theories and dispense advice that was counter to what Fauci was saying.
“It’s interesting,” Trump said. “He’s got a very good approval rating. And I like that, it’s good because, remember, he’s working for this administration. He’s working with us. We could have gotten other people. We could have gotten somebody else. It didn’t have to be Dr. Fauci.”
“And for the most part we’ve done what he and others — and Dr. Birx and others — have recommended,” Trump added. “And he’s got this high approval rating. So why don’t I have a high approval rating with respect to the virus? We should have it very high.”
What’s more, Trump over the past few days has retweeted tweets that have attacked Fauci’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. One tweet Trump retweeted suggested that Fauci has been misleading the public about the severity of COVID-19. There have also been accusations that the Trump administration has tried to keep Fauci out of the public spotlight in recent weeks.
Commenting on Trump’s actions during an interview with BET, Fauci vehemently defended his handling of the pandemic.
“I haven’t been wrong, period,” Fauci said this week. “I haven’t, and I’d be happy to go through each and every one of those. What gets missed in this mix is that when you have an evolving situation like this outbreak, it is brand new virgin territory, uncharted water. And when you’re dealing in the arena of science, you collect data and information to the extent that it’s available to you.”
Fauci’s full interview with Marc Lamont Hill can be viewed below:
