Trump Blames 'Fauci And These Idiots' For His Own Coronavirus Ineptitude
President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at medical experts and complained about people being tired of hearing about COVID-19, as the confirmed death toll in the US ticked closer to 220,000 and the spread of the disease continued to accelerate.
Trump made the comments on a call with campaign staffers, seeking to pass blame for the pandemic and seemingly lamenting his inability to shift the national conversation.
“People are tired of Covid,” Trump said. “People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all these idiots who got it wrong.”
“Every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb, but there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him,” Trump added. “This guy’s a disaster.”
The president was referring to Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and a member of the White House coronavirus task force. Trump has repeatedly sought to undermine and distort Fauci’s comments as the public health expert has called for the implementation of safety protocols throughout the pandemic.
“If there’s a reporter on [the call], you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn’t care less,” Trump said.
The president returned to the theme in a series of tweets Monday afternoon, claiming Fauci “seems to get more airtime” than he does and contending that Fauci “said ‘no masks & let China in.’”
Early in the pandemic, Fauci didn’t recommend wearing masks out of concern there wouldn’t be enough for front-line workers, but he changed his tune once research showed simple homemade cloth masks worked.
Trump also criticized Fauci for wearing a Washington Nationals mask and having a “Bad arm!” — a reference to Fauci throwing the ceremonial first pitch for the team earlier this year. (Trump has never thrown a first pitch as president, despite several invitations. In July, Trump announced ― then said he had canceled ― plans to throw the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, only for a source to reveal that he’d...
