President Donald Trump reiterated a positive assessment of Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday, despite the doctor’s reported tensions with the president during the coronavirus crisis.
“He’s a good man. I like Dr. Fauci a lot, just so you understand,” Trump said at the White House press briefing.
White House reporters, however, repeatedly questioned President Trump about Fauci’s absence, even though the doctor has never attended every briefing.
“He’ll be back up very soon and we’ll be discussing dates and times with him,” Trump said, adding Fauci was “very important to me.”
But Fauci’s appearance at the White House press briefings sometimes leads to uncomfortable moments, as the establishment media reporters repeatedly ask the doctor to fact check the president’s statements in real-time.
Partisan Democrats and establishment journalists have hoisted Fauci, an establishment medical doctor and a political creature of Washington, as a standard-bearer of “science” and “facts” to Trump’s unbridled optimism about beating the virus.
Fauci has noted the tension in the briefing room but has repeatedly explained that as a doctor, he will have a different tone than the president.
“I think there’s this issue of trying to separate the two of us. There isn’t fundamentally a difference there,” Fauci said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Fauci said in an interview with Washington, DC talk radio WMAL that the media was “not helpful” by trying to pit him against Trump.
“The president has listened to what I have said and what the other people on the task force have said. When I have made recommendations he has taken them,” he said. “The idea of just pitting one against the other is just not helpful.”
He added, “That is really unfortunate. I would wish that that would stop.”
Fauci demonstrates daily that praise goes far in Washington, DC, especially when the political stakes are high.
In an interview with the Atlantic, Fauci said Trump “has a very unique style” but added the president as “always ultimately listened to what I’ve said.”
Trump has reciprocated that praise.
“Where is Anthony?” Trump asked last week during a briefing, noting the doctor had “become a major television star for all the right reasons.”
“He’s just so professional,” Trump added. “So good.”
On Tuesday morning, Trump shared a clip of Fauci praising him on a show with Mark Levin.
“Thank you Tony!” he wrote.
Thank you Tony! https://t.co/U5XxzeQzXJ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2020
But the New York Times reported aides believe the president’s patience with the doctor is waning.
Fauci also recently made several statements that demonstrated his disagreements with Trump and flaunted what he believes to be an unimpeachable reputation.
In his interview with the Atlantic, Fauci warned the Trump administration would be “foolish” to try and silence him during the crisis.
“I don’t think they’re going to try to silence me. I think that would be foolish on their part. And I don’t even think they want to,” he said. “I think, in some respects, they welcome my voice out there telling the truth. I’m going to keep doing it.”
Fauci also spoke somewhat candidly with writer Jon Cohen of Science Magazine, noting defensively he could not actively stop the president from making misinformed statements during a press conference.
“I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down,” he said, noting that his response was to “try and get it corrected for the next time” the president was on camera.
Fauci also said he would never describe the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus,” a term that the president has pointedly used on occasion.
Fauci told Cohen that he disagreed with the president on occasions but praised him for listening.
“[T]o [Trump’s] credit, even though we disagree on some things, he listens,” he said. “He goes his own way. He has his own style. But on substantive issues, he does listen to what I say.”
But the two might find their tensions irreconcilable, should Fauci publicly push back against Trump’s desire to loosen restrictions on Americans after the 15-day period to “stop the spread” and “flatten the curve” — terms Fauci has recommended and supported.
When asked by reporters on Monday if Fauci agreed with him about loosening restrictions, Trump replied, “He doesn’t not agree with me.”
The president said he respected Fauci’s advice but that he would consult more than just one doctor about the future of the country.
“He’s very important to me,” Trump said about Fauci. “I will be listening to him. I’ll be listening to [Dr.] Deborah [Birx], I’ll be listening to other experts. We have lot of people that are very good at this and ultimately, it’s a balancing act.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.