Dr. Fauci exclusive interview: 'When I publicly disagreed with Trump he let terrible things happen'

[DonViejo]

Anthony Fauci exclusive interview: 'When I publicly disagreed with Trump he let terrible things happen'

Labelled a ‘disaster’ by President Trump, who publicly lobbied against his top Covid adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci is now back in the spotlight

By Martin Fletcher
19 February 2021 • 6:00am

-snip-

Donald Trump was initially sceptical of the threat from Covid-19, but Fauci and his fellow scientists did manage to persuade him to back state-by-state lockdowns, and approve social-distancing measures. He also restricted Chinese visitors to the country. By the spring, however, Fauci’s relations with the president had soured as Trump began listening to outsiders with no scientific knowledge and fretting about the damage to the economy and – by extension – his re-election hopes.

Fauci’s challenge was to correct the president’s dangerous falsehoods as diplomatically as possible, often while sharing the stage with him at televised White House briefings, but he says that ‘when it became clear that in order to maintain my integrity and to get the right message [across] I had to publicly disagree with him, he did things – or allowed things to happen – that were terrible.

‘Like he allowed Peter Navarro [Trump’s trade adviser] to write an editorial in USA Today saying that almost everything I’ve ever said was wrong. He allowed the communications department of the White House to send out a list to all of the media, all of the networks, all of the cables, all of the print press, about all of the mistakes I’ve made, which was absolute nonsense because there were no mistakes.’

Trump also began to denigrate Fauci in tweets and press conferences, setting him up as a target for the extreme Right’s hatred. ‘Which I became, to the point that to this day I have to have armed federal agents guarding me all the time,’ Fauci says. And he was not the only target. To his dismay, his wife and three adult daughters were also harassed and threatened.

Liberated under President Biden, Fauci can now speak frankly in a way he couldn’t last year. He tells me that in the final two months of his presidency Trump almost completely abandoned his duty to protect the nation from the pandemic. ‘We [the scientists] were trying, but we were acting almost alone, in the sense of without any direction.’

more
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/dr-anthony-fauci-had-publicly-disagree-trump-allowed-terrible/

[mrs_p]

1. While I completely believe T did this

I wouldn’t say Dr F made no mistakes. My PhD focus is influenza. I thought his early message that masks aren’t necessary was off because the virus is transmitted in respiratory droplets and anything to block those droplets would have helped. I know why he said it - to conserve resources for first responders - but it was wrong. As scientists, we MUST admit when our hypotheses are wrong. It is the way science moves forward

[Shermann]

2. It's not necessarily a "mistake" to be incorrect

Sometimes the best hypothesis available at a moment in time might be incorrect. So you move from that hypothesis to a hypothesis which better fits the newer evidence as it becomes available. It's semantics I know.

[mrs_p]

5. In this case saying masks weren't

Really necessary early on a was a mistake. Biologically, that made no sense. He shouldn’t be saying no mistakes were made. That’s simply not true.

[Ms. Toad]

8. I agree.

He said it for non-medical reasons,when it was already clear that masks reduced transmissions. That mistake telling people masks were not helpful was repeated by many (from individuals to people in charge of making policy) to justify not wearing masks.

It would not have been a mistake to request people leave the medical masks for medical professionals. The mistake was in telling people that weren't useful because it increased skepticism when he finally acknowledged they were.

[mrs_p]

10. Thank you. I appreciate all

That Fauci is doing and know he was in a tough spot. But masking up was essential from the beginning and scientists knew that.

[Mariana]

3. "As scientists, we MUST admit when our hypotheses are wrong."

Fauci did that.

[mrs_p]

4. He said no mistakes were made

Not true.

[Pobeka]

6. Fauci's job was/is to save lives, which is quite different than your PhD activity.

Remember, this is the country that wiped out the toilet paper supply. This is context in which Fauci had to make public statements. He didn't have the luxury to make pure scientific statements if that would kill more people, because the statements were being made to an irrationally behaving public.

Further compounding the problem was that Trump was an erratic megaphone that would further confuse the public.

[mrs_p]

7. I know and I agree

But he really shouldn’t be saying no mistakes were made. It actually lessens my scientific faith in him. Really. Mistakes were made!

And My PhD activity was part of saving lives. What is done in the lab helps the overall understanding and knowledge of the virus. This is essential for appropriate treatments and saving lives.

[Pobeka]

11. Thing is, he did say why the mask recommendation changed.

https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-did-dr-fauci-say-no-masks-like-trump-claiming-1540383

During a July interview with the Washington Post, Fauci said, "Back then, the critical issue was to save the masks for the people who really needed them because it was felt that there was a shortage of masks."

"What happened as the weeks and months came by, two things became clear: one, that there wasn't a shortage of masks, we had plenty of masks and coverings that you could put on that's plain cloth...so that took care of that problem," Fauci said. "Secondly, we fully realized that there are a lot of people who are asymptomatic who are spreading infection. So it became clear that we absolutely should be wearing masks consistently."

Seems to me that's a statement made for the public which says the original hypothesis for non-masking was determined to be wrong over time. He just didn't just the fancy "hypothesis" word in order to make it simpler for the under-educated public.

p.s.

Thanks for choosing a science career. We need science more than ever!

[Ms. Toad]

12. Except that the available data at the time doesn't match

the latter part of that explanation. I know, because I did the research before starting to make (and wear) masks in March. There was data available both about the effectiveness of masks and about asymptomatic carriers.

And when you are a respected public health official misstates facts for practical reasons (i.e. out of fear that the general public will grab all of the masks and health care workers will have none, people remember the (false) statement that masks are not effective - not the reason you made the statement. That is exactly what happened here. When it becamse clear that masks were plentiful and that masks were not only effective - but one of the most effective ways - to prevent transmission, anti-maskers (both private and government officials) repeatedly quoted the misstatements by Fauci.

His heart was in the right place, but the reality is that his health-worker focused careless statements made it significantly harder to get people to wear masks.

[Ms. Toad]

9. His public statements on masks predictably contributed to killing more people

Because his false statement (that they did no good) was used by both people making policy and individuals to support both refusal to implement mask order, and refusal to wear them. It was scientifically established by March that masks helped; he continued to make the false statement long after that to minimise the run on an already short supply of masks (a definite need), but the need for masks for the general public was already starting to be met by a army of volunteer seamstress (of which i was one - I started sewing in March after a review of medical literature made it clear masks helped)