As U.S. President Donald Trump fights his way through the final days of the presidential campaign denying the pandemic — by lashing out at doctors, disputing science and slashing the press for highlighting rising coronavirus case counts — the long-running rift between the White House and Dr. Anthony Fauci burst into the open Saturday night.
For months as Trump undercut his own medical experts, sidelined scientists and refused to take basic steps to control the virus while mocking former vice president Joe Biden for wearing a mask, the nation's top infectious disease specialist held his tongue and took the president's attacks in stride as he continued to plead with the American people to socially distance and wear masks.
But Fauci's restraint appeared to have evaporated in a Washington Post interview that was published Saturday night, in which he called out the White House for allowing its strategy for fighting the virus to be shaped in part by a neuroradiologist with no training in the field of infectious disease and said he appreciated chief of staff Mark Meadows' honesty when he admitted to CNN's Jake Tapper during a recent interview that the administration has given up controlling the spread of the virus.
At a time when Trump is downplaying the rising cases in the vast majority of states, dangerously holding huge rallies with few masks and no social distancing, and lodging the false and outlandish claim that doctors are exaggerating the number of COVID-19 deaths for profit, Fauci told the Post that the nation is "in for a whole lot of hurt."
"All the stars are aligned in the wrong place" as the country heads indoors in colder weather, Fauci told the newspaper in an interview late Friday -- a day when the U.S. set a global record for the most daily cases and the nation surpassed 229,000 deaths. "You could not possibly be positioned more poorly."
Fauci, who is widely trusted by the public after a lengthy career serving under six presidents from both parties, said Meadows was being candid in the interview last weekend where he told Tapper it was not possible to control the virus. Fauci has adopted the polar opposite strategy by repeatedly telling Americans that they can change the trajectory of the virus and save lives if they adhere to mask use, social distancing protocols and other safety precautions.
"I tip my hat to him for admitting the strategy," Fauci told the Post of Meadows' admission to Tapper. "He is straightforward in telling you what's on his mind. I commend him for that."
Fauci did not mince words describing what he views as the untoward influence of Dr. Scott Atlas, a controversial figure who has become the president's de facto COVID-19 adviser. Atlas, a White House coronavirus task force member who took on more prominence as Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx receded from public view at the White House, has misrepresented the effectiveness of masks and discouraged testing of asymptomatic people, even though most medical experts believe it is a critical element of stopping the spread of the virus.
"I have real problems with that guy," the Washington Post quoted Fauci as saying about Atlas. "He's a smart guy who's talking about things that I believe he doesn't have any real insight or knowledge or experience in. He keeps talking about things that when you dissect it out and parse it out, it doesn't make any sense."
Fauci and Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator for the White House task force, were fixtures at the White House in the early days of the pandemic, often appearing alongside Trump at White House briefings to detail the administration's efforts to fight the virus. But Trump grew increasingly frustrated with Fauci's media appearances and what he viewed as the doctor's negative tone about the trajectory of the virus. (Fauci told the Washington Post he was choosing his words carefully so as not to be prohibited from doing future interviews.)
During a call with campaign staff in October, Trump referred to Fauci and other health officials as "idiots" and said Americans were tired of hearing about the pandemic, according to CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak. Birx, who has also expressed concerns about Atlas to her confidantes, has taken her expertise and influence out on the road, meeting with state and local officials to try to help shape their strategies for fighting the virus.
Atlas responded to Fauci Saturday night in a tweet comprised of a series of hashtags that accused him of engaging in politics and mocked Fauci for the ceremonial first pitch that he threw at the opening game of the Washington Nationals.
"#Insecurity #EmbarrassingHimself #Exposed #CantThrowABall #NoTimeForPolitics," Atlas tweeted.
In a statement, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere sharply criticized Fauci, claiming he was inappropriately playing politics a few days before Election Day.
This is going to be fucking tragically brutal.
White House unleashes on Fauci after criticism of Trump's pandemic response
The White House on Saturday unleashed on Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading infectious disease expert, following his comments to the Washington Post that criticized the Trump administration's response to the pandemic, including Dr. Scott Atlas, who the president has relied on for advice on...
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