The United States was already deeply concerned, but Anthony Fauci says everything is fine between him and Donald Trump.
- USA : No other country has been hit so hard by the Corona crisis *
- Donald Trump *: The President and his problem with the experts
- Economy instead of health: Donald Trump prefers to listen to Jared Kushner * than to Anthony Fauci
Update from May 12, 2020, 8:35 pm: Anthony Fauci has denied that there has been a split between him and US President Donald Trump . "I have no confrontational relationship with the President," said the US government virologist and advisor to the Corona crisis at a hearing before the US Senate.
Anthony Fauci on Trump: "He also hears other people's opinions"
He advised Trump and expressed his opinion, which was always based on scientific knowledge, said Fauci. Trump respects that. "But he also hears other people's opinions."
In the almost two and a half hour hearing, Fauci avoided calling the president by name. When asked beforehand whether he was well, he said yes and described how much he would enjoy working well with the governors of the US states and also with the senators. Again, he didn't mention President Donald Trump.
Fear and terror in the US: Donald Trump distances himself from Anthony Fauci
First registration from May 11th, 2020
USA - The great fear of many Americans seems to be real. US President Donald Trump is at a distance from Dr. Anthony Fauci , his advisor in the Corona crisis , left. In the middle of the pandemic that no country has hit as hard as the United States.
Corona crisis in the USA: where's Anthony Fauci?
Almost two weeks have passed since Fauci's last public appearance. The highly respected virologist has been in "modified quarantine" since the weekend after contacting a government employee who tested positive for the coronavirus , but he had only spoken to media representatives once in the past 21 days. In April, Fauci answered American public questions almost daily.
With his matter-of-fact and calm manner in the corona crisis, the virologist formed an antipole to Trump's confused and contradictory statements. Fauci has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a highly acclaimed US research institute, since 1984. He is a recognized expert on virus pandemics and a pioneer in HIV research in the 1980s. Over the past 30 years, Fauci has advised the respective US governments on virus outbreaks - be it hi-virus, Zika, swine flu, Ebola or just now the corona virus .
Virus and pandemic expert: Anthony Fauci is popular and competent
For his outstanding work, Dr. Anthony Fauci received the German Robert Koch Gold Medal in 2013. To date, he has been awarded 40 honorary doctorates in the United States. In 2008, Fauci received the President's Medal for Freedom, the highest medal for a civilian in the United States. Earlier this month, Fauci was nominated for a Service to America Medal for fighting coronavirus , an award for those working in the public service. The Washington Post dubbed them “Oscars for the Government”.
Even Hollywood joined in the praise for Fauci. For the comedy show "Saturday Night Live", Brad Pitt dressed up as Fauci and spoke about his fear of being soon fired by Donald Trump . Pitt ended his appearance by turning directly to Fauci and saying, "Thank you for your calm and clarity in these grueling times."
Donald Trump in the corona crisis: no desire for expertise
Trump, however, seems willing to sideline the popular civil servant. Fauci and his colleague, the doctor and vaccine expert, Dr. Deborah Brix , were only sporadically or not at all present in public statements. Neither at Trump's appearances nor at the press conferences, which Kayleigh McEnany is increasingly and increasingly taking on.
This may have been partly due to the fact that a video recording had been circulating on social media, on which Brix was watching her boss, Donald Trump , during one of his nonsense moments. Trump spoke about the possible injection of disinfectants as a defense against the coronavirus , and the petrified face of Brix was plain to see the sheer horror of such ignorance of simple science.
Coronavirus Task Force of the White House with an uncertain future
A similar fate to Brix and Fauci seems to be happening to the entire White House Coronavirus Task Force , led by Vice President Mike Pence *, which includes Fauci and Brix and a number of cabinet members, including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and top Economic advisor Larry Kudlow. Trump initially indicated via Twitter * that the task force would be dissolved because it had “done such a fantastic job”.
.... gloves, gowns etc. are now plentiful. The last four Governors teleconference calls have been conclusively strong. Because of this success, the Task Force will continue on indefinitely with its focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN. We may add or subtract people ....
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 6, 2020It would eventually be filled and take care of the reopening of the country. Shortly afterwards, the US President backed off and announced that the task force would remain in place for the time being. "I didn't know how popular the task force was," Trump said of his change of heart.
But instead of the task force, which at least partially has medical and epidemiological expertise, Trump apparently prefers to follow the advice of the group around Jared Kushner, which is mainly staffed by economic experts. It is in the nature of things that Kushner and Co. focus on the economic reopening of the country.
Change in White House strategy in the middle of the corona pandemic
This change in the strategy of the White House in dealing with the corona pandemic is spreading fear and terror among medical and research experts. Joshua Sharfstein, professor of health care at Johns Hopkins University, criticized the Trump administration for "Politico", the US government: "It is the biggest health crisis in the past hundred years and we treat it as anything but that."
In addition, there are complaints from administrative areas of the US administration that urgently needed guidelines are not being drawn up and that they are not being answered to urgent questions to the US government. In the same “Politico” article, Kim Schrier raises the alarm. The Washington State MP in the US House of Representatives and doctor of medicine describes the communication with the White House: "They tell us they don't have the answer, but they'll get back to us - and then they just won't come back."
Donald Trump does not leave campaign mode even in the corona crisis
So there are increasing signs that Donald Trump is exchanging the advice of the medical panel of experts in the White House for that of the economists. This corresponds to the wishes of the large corporations whose advocate is Jared Kushner, as well as Trump's election campaign 2020 in the cards. Because for a successful outcome of the US presidential election 2020 *, the economic upturn was and remains Trump's big argument, which should hide any other misconduct, be it sexist or racially motivated or simply due to their own incompetence.
By Daniel Dillmann
* fr.de is part of the nationwide Ippen editorial network
Rubric list image: © Alex Brandon / dpa