On Wednesday, White House Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro vented in an op-ed criticizing Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“So when you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution,” Navarro said after describing a list of his concerns with Fauci in an op-ed he wrote titled “Anthony Fauci Has Been Wrong About Everything I Have Interacted with Him On” in USA Today.
Navarro wrote that he pushed the president to take the coronavirus threat seriously and start a travel ban on flights from China in January.
“Fauci fought against the president’s courageous decision — which might well have saved hundreds of thousands of American lives,” he wrote.
Navarro also said that Fauci told the news media in January “not to worry” about a potential pandemic and described the virus threat as “low risk.”
“When we were building new mask capacity in record time, Fauci was flip-flopping on the use of masks,” he wrote, about Fauci’s original recommendation to not wear masks when the pandemic first came here.
Navarro also challenged Fauci for dismissing hydroxychloroquine as a method to combat the virus despite scientific studies showing its success.
That’s the thing about leftists, which Dr. Fauci most definitely is. Leftists and Democrats are right now posting on social media platforms that President Donald Trump doesn’t believe in science. Not only is that an absurdity on the face of it, but it is a fact that the president has followed every recommendation from Dr. Fauci and Birx. They have said so on multiple occasions.
Apparently, Fauci’s dismissal of the falling death rate was the last straw for Navarro.
“Now Fauci says a falling mortality rate doesn’t matter when it is the single most important statistic to help guide the pace of our economic reopening,” he wrote. “The lower the mortality rate, the faster and more we can open.”
President Trump has gently increased his criticism of Fauci, regardless of repeating he has a good relationship with the doctor.
“Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,” Trump said during an interview on Friday with Sean Hannity.
Trump said to reporters on Monday that he has an “excellent relationship” with Dr. Fauci, “I don’t all the time agree with him.”
The White House on Monday denied the White House was attempting to undermine Fauci, as the doctor escalated his criticism of the country’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The public trouncing of a fellow administration official prompted the White House to distance itself from Navarro’s comments about 12 hours after his op-ed was published.
“To the notion that there’s opposition research and that there’s Fauci vs. the president couldn’t be further from the truth,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a press briefing on Monday. “Dr. Fauci and the president have always had a good working relationship.”
Rich is a conservative, syndicated opinion writer and owner of MAGA-Chat.com. He writes about politics, culture, liberty, and faith.
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