Fauci schools Trump & White House for discrediting him; 'bit bizarre; stop this nonsense'

Dr Anthony Fauci, America's top infectious diseases expert, on Wednesday, responded to rising criticism by US President Donald Trump and top White House aides. Dr Fauci called the White House effort to discredit him "bizarre" and urged an end to the divisiveness over the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying "let's stop this nonsense."

'Let's stop his nonsense'

"One of the things that is part of the problem is the dynamics of the divisiveness that is going on now that it becomes difficult to engage in a dialogue of honest evaluation of what's gone right and what's gone wrong," Fauci told The Atlantic in an interview.

"We've got to own this, reset this and say OK, let's stop this nonsense and figure out how can we get our control over this now. You know, it is a bit bizarre. I don't really fully understand it," Fauci said.

'A bit bizarre but let's stop this nonsense': Dr Fauci responds criticism by Trump & the White House.

Fauci has been increasingly sidelined by the White House as he sounds alarms about the virus, a most unwelcome message at a time when Trump is focused on pushing an economic rebound. "We haven't even begun to see the end of it yet," he said in a talk with the dean of Stanford's medical school on Monday, calling for a step back in reopenings.

Last week, Fauci contradicted Trump about the severity of the virus during a FiveThirtyEight podcast. While Trump contends repeatedly that he has done a great job against the pandemic, Fauci said, "As a country, when you compare us to other countries, I don't think you can say we're doing great. I mean, we're just not."

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'I don't always agree with him'

Trump later said Fauci had "made a lot of mistakes. He pointed to Fauci's early disagreement with him over the China travel ban and to the evolving guidance over the use of masks as scientists' understanding of the virus improved points the White House expanded on in statements to media outlets over the weekend.

However, Trump has maintained that he has a "very good relationship" with Dr Anthony Fauci. "I find him to be a very nice person," Trump said on Monday, adding "I don't always agree with him." According to Worldometer, the United States remains the most affected. It has recorded over 70,000 cases in a day, taking its tally of cases to 3,615,991 and death toll to 140,105.

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