At this press conference last April, the president , Donald Trump seems to follow closely the speech of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the national Institute of infectious diseases. Her advice is in contrast with the denials of the president on the severity of the pandemic.
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July 17, 2020 22h03
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COVID-19: Fauci eclipse Trump
Ivan Crown
Agence France-Presse
Issam Ahmed
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON — The small doctor refuses to tell : to 79 years, the immunologist american Anthony Fauci has become the voice of scientific reason on the severity of the pandemic COVID-19 in the face of denials of Donald Trump, but this role earned him the grudge of fierce supporters of the president who are calling for his head.
This medical doctor by training, was famous in the world of infectious disease and the fight against aids until the pandemic arrives, but is little known to the general public, and especially not political : he is the director of the national Institute of infectious diseases since 1984.
Today, the figurines are manufactured in his likeness, and surveys conducted on him, the results to be derogatory to the president : 65% of Americans believe the information that Anthony Fauci gives on the coronavirus, while 67 % do not believe Donald Trump, according to a survey Quinnipiac.
Everything changes for him when he joined the cell presidential on the coronavirus, highly publicized. His communication adheres to the canons of communication in times of health crisis : simple messages, repeated to infinity, distilled to warn the population without creating panic.
The son of pharmacists, lover of thrillers and films of Jason Bourne, became a master in the art of crop politely to his boss, cultivating its image as a man of truth, outspoken.
“I’m walking on a ridge line,” he said in march. “I say things to the president that he did not want to hear.”
After that the president suggested at the beginning of march that a vaccine would be available within “three to four months,” the expert adds, in his accent, new york rocky : “As I told you, Mr. chairman, it will take a year to a year and a half”.
The equilibrium holds as long as the country is confined, but, since June, the ridge became very narrow. Dr. Fauci has seen the president since June 2. Donald Trump is focused on reviving the economy, health precautions no longer interested.
When the curve of contagion back in June, Anthony Fauci sounded the alarm publicly. It drives home the point that the United States are going in the wrong direction, that the number of cases detected daily could more than double to less than a radical change of strategy.
The White House, to cut off the mic : he no longer has given a television interview since the June 12, according to CNN. And the campaign anti-Fauci swells in the circles trumpistes. His three daughters are concerned for his safety.
“I don’t like the conflict, I am apolitical, I do not like that it takes me against the president”, he regretted in an interview with the magazine InStyle released on Wednesday. “This is not obvious, follow the ridge line to try to communicate so that people want you to go up against the president. It is quite stressful.”
The truce?
But then that other federal leaders are accused of bowing down in the face of power, such as Robert Redfield, director of the Centres for prevention and disease control (CDC), Anthony Fauci continues to speak.
He speaks on other media almost on a daily basis : newspapers, news sites, podcasts, conferences, and exchanges the online public.
Unfazed, he refutes any error of judgment, as his initial refusal to recommend the port of the universal mask, arguing that it was justified by the shortage.
He repeats to anyone who will listen that he has no intention of resigning, and that the White House does not have the power to dismiss him, leaves to seem immodest.
“At this moment, in all modesty, I am rather good. I am full of energy. I believe that everyone thinks as I do work more than excellent,” he told InStyle.
Although he defends himself from politics, he was careful not to cross a red line : if it is critical of the federal management of the outbreak, it will never cause the president personally.
“On matters of importance, he is listening to me,” he said in march. Today, it just says that it can get its messages by the vice-president.
When asked if he was actually banned from going to television, he responds : “No comment”, but does not correct.
When a presidential adviser, has published a column intended to discredit him, he responds vigorously, but adds skillfully that the initiative “night at the president”.
Donald Trump has disowned the author of the text in the stride. “I get along very well with Dr. Fauci” said the officer, on Wednesday. Until the next clash.
