Dr. Anthony Fauci has remained a stalwart in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic,
thanks to his role as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases. He joined the White House's coronavirus task force, according to CNN, and worked with
former President Donald Trump on stopping the spread.
However, Fauci and Trump had a strained relationship, and one that was only made worse as the two
shared conflicting messages about the severity of the virus. Fauci even admitted that it
was a difficult experience working with Trump, per The New York Times, and the doctor expressed
optimism about his subsequent relationship with President Joe Biden, saying it'll be
a better relationship than the one he had with Trump.
Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, tested positive for the coronavirus on October 1st,
2020, according to NPR, and he was taken to the Walter Reed National Military Medical
Center, where he received treatments until he was able to return to the White House.
While Fauci wasn't surprised by Trump's diagnosis, the doctor has since made shocking statements
about the event.
Dr. Anthony Fauci thought that former President Donald Trump was "lucky" that he recovered
from his coronavirus diagnosis. In a February 2021 interview with The Telegraph, Fauci said
that, considering Trump's weight and age, things could have gone much worse. Fauci told
the outlet,
"He could have gotten into serious trouble. I think he was quite fortunate."
Fauci also had scathing words for the entire White House under Trump's direction, calling
the location a "Covid-19 superspreader."
Trump is 6 foot 3 inches tall and weighs 244 pounds, according to the Daily Mail, and he
was 74 years old when he contracted the virus, per The Guardian. Both age and being overweight
are significant risks and increase the severity of the virus, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Considering all of this, it may come as no surprise that Trump was in fact much sicker
than he let on at the time. According to The New York Times, Trump's physician, Dr. Sean
P. Conley, had "repeatedly downplayed concerns about Mr. Trump's condition during his illness."
Trump had to be administered oxygen during his treatment while he battled a high fever
and dropping oxygen levels.
Dr. Anthony Fauci's 60 Minutes interview in October 2020 was a concise summary of how
he felt about Donald Trump and the former president's relationship to COVID-19 safety
measures. In the now-famous clip, when Fauci was asked if he was surprised that Trump got
sick, he emphatically responded, "Absolutely not."
Fauci added at the time,
"I was worried that he was going to get sick. When I saw him in a completely precarious
situation of crowded... no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask."
The 60 Minutes interview showed clips of Amy Coney Barrett's swearing-in ceremony in the
White House's Rose Garden as Fauci said this.
"When I saw that on TV, I said, 'Oh my goodness.'"
Fauci continued, as he covered his face with his hands.
"Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then sure enough,
it turned out to be a super-spreader event."
Fauci didn't hold back yet again in January when he spoke with CNN. When Fauci was asked
if the lack of facts under Trump's administration cost lives, the doctor said that "it very
likely did." But Fauci also said he "didn't want to rehash it," and instead focused optimistically
on the future, especially with President Biden.
Dr. Fauci has spoken candidly about working under both former President Donald Trump and
President Joe Biden. After Biden took over in January 2021, Fauci spoke with CNN and
discussed Biden's main priority in the coronavirus task force, which was restoring trust in the
American people.
Fauci said he agrees with the goal, explaining,
"We've had a lot of divisiveness. We've had facts that were very, very clear that were
questioned, people were not trusting what health officials were saying... masking became
a political issue."
Fauci supported Biden's hope that everybody can get on the "same page" and, most importantly,
to follow the advice of medical professionals.
Fauci stressed this idea again in a press conference at the White House shortly after
Biden took office. According to USA Today, the doctor said,
"The idea that you can get up here and... let the science speak, it is somewhat of a
liberating feeling."
In fact, Biden himself stressed this from the State Dining room in January 2021, in
rhetoric that was quite different from Trump's: "That's why you're going to be hearing a lot
more from Dr. Fauci, not from the president, but from the real genuine experts and scientists."
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