Apparently White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci isn’t on the chopping block, despite President Donald Trump retweeting a post declaring it was “time to #FireFauci” on Sunday night.
“This media chatter is ridiculous – President Trump is not firing Dr. Fauci,” White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley said on Monday afternoon.
The doctor “has been and remains a trusted advisor” to Trump, according to Gidley.
But the White House’s rosy messaging about government officials who seem to have fallen from Trump’s good graces is rarely a good sign for the official: Former Cabinet members Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Scott Pruitt, and David Shulkin were all fired after either the White House or Trump claimed they still had his confidence.
Fauci likely drew Trump’s ire after the doctor told CNN “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper on Sunday morning that a faster response to COVID-19 from the government would’ve prevented a number of deaths from the outbreak.
“I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives,” Fauci said.
Trump did not issue any social distancing guidelines until several months after the virus began spreading throughout the country, and he has been reluctant to uphold the guidelines for fear that the resulting damaged economy would cost him the election in November.
Haha. Trump can’t fire Fauci.
Addendum:
Near the start of Today’s briefing, at the end of Fauci’s first go at the podium (3:02:57 in video below) is a remarkable moment. Asked if he is “doing this voluntarily” (i.e., throwing himself under the bus for Trump), his mouth says “yes” but he shakes his head “no”. The head movement gives the honest answer. We are living in a mad pantomime in a pandemic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziUglbxwbQ4As long as he doesn’t kiss him on both cheeks…
So, this Friday at 6pm Eastern then.
More like Veto of Confidence. Dead man walking.
The people arround Trump know the markets will tank, and Trump will cause himself immense political pain if he cans Fauci…
that message will work for a few days…
Then the hangers on and grifters in the FOX news/OANN bubble will start to work on him, feeling they need to control him. That and some of the dumb-ass wanna be CEOs will talk about the economy being the key to his reelection. They will redirect his anger to Fauci…
Fauci will go. And it will be a good thing. Will free him to talk. Will make it clear to every republican who has any political sense that Trump is leading a mentally deranged death cult. And best of all - firing Fouci will be something that will impact 5% or so of the electorate who are giving Trump the benefit of the doubt. Will be the start of losing in a landslide.