by Hal Brown
Updated: 11:00 AM Pacific time
This is being discussed on MSNBC right now:
The story is in The Washington Post (subscription).
Excerpt:
White House communications officials, who must approve television appearances related to the coronavirus, responded by allowing Fauci spots this week on PBS NewsHour, a CNN town hall with Sanjay Gupta and NBC’s “Meet the Press” during the prime Sunday morning slot, according to one person familiar with the situation.
Then Fauci joined a Facebook Live event on Tuesday with Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), disputing Trump’s assertions that a lower death rate showed the country’s progress against the pandemic. Fauci called it “a false narrative” and warned, “Don’t get yourself into false complacency.”
Fauci did not end up making any of the scheduled appearances. The White House canceled them after his Tuesday remarks, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to relate behind-the-scenes conversations.
The article notes the following (emphasis added):
Fauci did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this story.
A White House official released a statement saying that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things,” and attaching a lengthy list of the scientist’s comments from early in the outbreak. Those included his early doubt that people with no symptoms could play a significant role in spreading the virus — a notion based on earlier outbreaks that the novel coronavirus would turn on its head. They also point to public reassurances Fauci made in late February, around the time of the first U.S. case of community transmission, that “at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.”
It has a link to the Five-Thirty-Eight interview from July 9th with Fauci.
Fauci was allowed (assuming he got permission) to be interview by a website which only grabs the headlines with their election predictions and not The Washington Post which consistently publishes widely shared opinions, the most recent example being the Robert Mueller OpEd which has been written about on Politico, CNN, and elsewhere online and in on non-Fox television news.
Here’s the kind of statement that the White House doesn’t want to be widely shared. Readers the likes of us are far more likely to see it than members of Trump’s Fox News addicted base.
On whether partisanship makes fighting COVID-19 more difficult:
AR You know, for a few months, masks were quite a partisan issue, though in the past few weeks politicians on both sides have advocated for their use. Do you think America’s hyperpartisan environment has made it more difficult to suppress the virus?
AF: You know, I think you’d have to admit that that’s the case. We live, I mean, you have to be having blindfolders on and covering your ears to think that we don’t live in a very divisive society now, from a political standpoint. I mean, it’s just unfortunate, but it is what it is. And you know, from experience historically, that when you don’t have unanimity in an approach to something, you’re not as effective in how you handle it. So I think you’d have to make the assumption that if there wasn’t such divisiveness, that we would have a more coordinated approach.
When asked about how he thought the US was doing he answered:
Well, let me say there are parts of the United States, like where you live right now [in New York], that are doing really well, that you’ve been through something really bad and you have things under control. And you have a governor and mayor in the city who understand what it means to go by the guidelines for the gateway, phase one, phase two, phase three. So you’re doing well. Other cities are doing well. But 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.
Update: If you go to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Website you will find this link:
This takes you to this interview from the National Institute of Health website:
Update: Fauci admits his penchant for facts about COVID-19 threat explains why he’s not on TV anymore is with a quote from an interview in The Financial Times which is a subscription website.
Amid reporting that President Donald Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci are now barely on speaking terms, the top health official admitted in an interview published Friday that his reputation for truth-telling and fact-based warnings about the coronavirus outbreak is likely why the American people have not seen him very much on television recently.
“I have a reputation, as you probably have figured out, of speaking the truth at all times and not sugar-coating things. And that may be one of the reasons why I haven’t been on television very much lately,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in an interview (paywall) with the Financial Times.
I expect that like many of you I have been wondering why Anthony Fauci hasn’t resigned. Does he have the god-complex often attributed to surgeons and other highly trained doctors? Does he think the work he is doing couldn’t be done by any of the other members of his team without his leadership?
He is getting his message out but only where a relatively small number of Americans will hear it. Perhaps many more people will hear his message if he resigns.
Maybe he’s playing three dimensional chess and maneuvering his pieces so Trump is compelled by his narcissism to fire him because this move would backfire on Trump big time exposing the president’s self-serving vindictiveness and incompetence and opening the door for him to gain a far bigger audience.
I suspect Fauci has read the polls about who the public trusts the most about Covid-19.
Only he, and perhaps those working with him, his confidants, or his family members have the answers to these questions.
Update: Here are some excerpts from the Post story which may shed light on why he doesn’t resign:
- People who are close to Fauci say the public undermining of scientists and public health experts has frustrated and saddened him because it adds to the chaos the country is already experiencing from the pandemic.
- Friends and allies say Fauci doesn’t quit because he loves his job and also feels a great sense of responsibility about helping to develop coronavirus vaccines and treatments — the biggest challenge of his career and the only way the country can truly begin to move past the pandemic. He has long said he does not want to retire before there is an AIDS vaccine.
- “He recognizes if he doesn’t intercede, things could fall apart very quickly — even more so than they have already,” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “He does it because he cares about the country and realizes he is uniquely positioned to help in this.”
- Although his message is regularly at odds with the president, Fauci is naturally conflict-averse and has sought to establish a personal relationship with the six presidents he has served over his career.
I have nothing to add to what William D. Zabel, a founding partner of the law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel, wrote in this featured letter published in the Opinion section of the Times on July 10th:
To The Editor:
Vice President Mike Pence recently led a public briefing of the Covid-19 task force with a self-congratulatory statement: “We slowed the spread, we flattened the curve, we saved lives.” False, false, false. Standing quietly behind this series of falsehoods was Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, implying by his presence support of the task force.
While Dr. Fauci has diplomatically disagreed with it from time to time, his overall presence could cause some to believe that the task force has his general approval.
The Trump administration is severely limiting Dr. Fauci’s influence by withholding its permission for interviews, lectures and other public discussions. Consider what our late mutual friend Larry Kramer might have said: “Tony, how can you lend the slightest support to these incompetent idiots who are killing Americans?”
This is a time when Dr. Fauci should not be restricted in expressing exactly how he feels on all issues. This is a time when Dr. Fauci should do the right and courageous thing — resign from the task force. That applies with equal force to Dr. Deborah Birx.
Do you agree with the author of this letter and with me that Dr. Fauci should do the right and courageous thing and resign from the task force?
Take the poll.
I can only put one poll here. If I could add another one I’d ask how likely you think it is that Trump will do more than freeze out the doctors who refuse to engage in his happy talk magical thinking and fire them from the task force. Please comment on what you think the odds are of this.