The American immunologist Anthony Fauci is considered an expert in the corona pandemic.
His advice was underestimated under the Trump administration, and the course changed under Joe Biden.
Anthony Fauci, renowned American immunologist, has advised all US presidents since Ronald Reagan.
Donald Trump's relationship with the 80-year-old scientist was strained.
In an interview with the New York Times, Fauci talks about the past few months in the White House.
Washington DC -
Anthony Fauci
looked like a changed man.
At his first appearance after the change of power in the White House, the 80-year-old beamed as he
inaugurated
the assembled capital press about the plans of the
Biden government
.
With the words “we let science speak”, the head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases underlined the change of course of the new government.
If the corona press conferences with President
Donald Trump were
still characterized by his theses and general confusion, the scientist is apparently flourishing under Joe Biden's new corona policy.
It was only a few weeks ago, however, that the opinion of the native New Yorker was not valued by the highest authorities.
Donald Trump thought out loud about firing Anthony Fauci
In an interview with the
New York Times,
Anthony Fauci
grants
deep insights into the
Trump administration's
corona policy
.
In a conversation, Donald Trump is said to have asked Fauci not to be so "negative".
“You have to have a positive attitude”.
An attitude that was
difficult
not only for the immunologist with over
400,000 corona deaths
in the USA.
Above all, his public opposition to Donald Trump's statements regarding the virus made the scientist a target of hostility: In the conversation, the 80-year-old reported numerous
death threats
against him and his family.
Donald Trump had failed to protect the immunologist in the final months of his tenure.
On the contrary: at election campaign events he joked with the audience about firing the scientist.
Anthony Fauci: The "skunk" at the picnic
But Donald Trump did not only show his rejection of Fauci's findings in public.
According to Fauci, the president also relied on the opinions of his political advisors
for
internal consultations
, instead of his expertise.
For this reason, too, the immunologist decided to continue to fill his post and not to resign.
“When I go, there is a
gap
.
Someone has to dare to speak the truth, "says Fauci, summing up his role in the White House - a few weeks ago, the
fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper
justified his long stay in a
similar way
.
.
"There was this joke, a friendly joke
that said
I was the
skunk at the picnic,
" said Fauci.
For many in Trump's environment, the immunologist was considered a spoilsport, admonisher and black painter, because Fauci contradicted the
trivialization of the virus
, which the Trump administration distinguished itself, especially in the early days.
It was only at the weekend that Trump's former
Corona task force leader, Deborah Bir
x, spoke out with criticism.
Every time a leading politician did not express himself in line with the needs of combating corona, that “threw her work off track”, said Birx without naming Trump - precisely because the pandemic situation requires the participation of all citizens in the country .
She personally liked to
travel to the USA
: There she was
“not censored”
, emphasized the doctor.
In the White House, however, there were corona deniers.
Joe Biden: With a 200-page strategy concept against the corona crisis
It is "liberating" for him, said Anthony Fauci, to be able to talk about scientific findings on the corona pandemic without having to worry about negative consequences.
After the change of power in the White House, the scientist will probably be listened to more, as Fauci has been
an important advisor to the US government
since the
presidency of Ronald Reagan
.
In
any case, the
current
US President Joe Biden
is leading the way in the first days of his term in office.
Fighting the corona pandemic is one of the pillars of his presidency, so he presented an approximately
200-page action plan
to combat the virus.
Biden also noted that scientists under his administration would not have
to fear
any
“political interference”
in their work in the
future
.
The message probably also resonates with a hidden swipe at the previous administration under Donald Trump.
(
AFP / jjf
)
