Published 12:03 IST, October 20th 2020
Trump trashes Fauci in call with campaign staff, refers to health officials as 'idiots'
Deepening the already existing rift between Donald Trump and nation’s most honoured infectious disease expert, US President trashed Dr Anthony Fauci in a call.
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Deepening the already existing rift between US President Donald Trump and nation’s most honoured infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci, in a campaign call on October 19, Trump said that people are “tired” of hearing about COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the disease has claimed the lives of more than 215,000 US citizens, Trump trashed Fauci as a “disaster” who has “been there for 500 years.” The frustrated and sometimes foul-mouthed US President, who himself had contracted the disease, even referred to Fauci along with other health officials as “idiots”.
As the per the campaign call accessed by several American media outlets, Trump even claim that if he had listened to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, America would have recorded ‘500,000 deaths’ before later adding that it would be ‘700,000 or 800,000’. Fearlessly, the US President was even heard in the call saying that “if there’s a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn’t care less.” According to Trump, people are tired and they want to be left alone. However, he also added that Fauci is a “nice guy”.
"People are tired of Covid. I have the biggest rallies I've ever had, and we have Covid," Trump said, phoning into a call with campaign staff. "People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots."
"Fauci is a nice guy," Trump went on in the call, audio of which is aired by many US broadcasters. "He's been here for 500 years. And yet we keep him."
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) October 19, 2020
According to the Washington Post report, Trump even lashed out on media outlets including CNN for covering only “Covid, Covid, pandemic” and accused them of “trying to talk people out of voting.” However, US President assured that “people are buying it.”
US President, who has been known to promote unproven facts related to the novel coronavirus in the past months, said that every time Fauci goes on television, “there’s always a bomb”. But added that “there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci is a disaster.” Trump even cited his campaign rallies with the crowd packed shoulder to shoulder in an outdoor venue with very few masks in view.
Fauci to refrain from politics
Even though it has grown more evident that Donald Trump is reluctant to adhere to Fauci’s suggestions, the US top infectious disease expert has pledged to refrain from politics. In an interview with CBC on ‘60 Minutes’, Fauci was critical of the US President and said that Trump’s conduct made it unsurprising that he caught COVID-19. However, in the call with campaign staff desperately pursuing reelection, Trump reiterated that he has been feeling well and that “we’re going to win.”
Trump’s call had been scheduled as a staffwide “attaboy” morale booster, with senior officials Donald Trump putting firth the more favourable case for acquiring the White House for the second term while also boosting the morale of his aides.
12:04 IST, October 20th 2020