SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci, wearing a face mask, listens as President Donald J. Trump participates in a vaccine development event in the Rose Garden at the White House on Friday, May 15, 2020. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
'Quite a Closing Message': As Covid-19 Soars, Trump Threatens to Fire Fauci After Election Over
"Trump is telling Americans that he has given up on protecting them from the virus. And that that's what they can expect in a second term."
Nov 01, 2020
President Donald Trump on Sunday night suggested he would fire Dr. Anthony Fauci "a little after the election"--comments that came after the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the nation's most respected public health experts, criticized the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic in an interview with the Washington Post.
At a late-night rally in Florida, Trump supporters broke into a chant of "Fire Fauci!" after the president complained about news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 230,000 Americans this year and is currently spiking in states including Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Iowa.
Trump repeated a baseless claim that the U.S. is "rounding the turn" even as healthcare workers in Wisconsin and Texas worked in field hospitals that have been set up to cope with the influx of Covid-19 patients, before saying the press would "like to talk about Covid and then...November 4, you won't hear too much about it."
"Don't tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election," Trump said in response to the chant, leading the audience to erupt in cheers.
The White House was angered over the weekend by Fauci's interview with the Post, in which the doctor said the U.S. is poorly positioned to confront the pandemic during the winter months, as the president has undermined public health messaging about simple safety precautions people can take to avoid the spread of Covid-19.
Fauci called for an "abrupt change" in public health practices, such as adherence to social distancing and mask-wearing, in order to mitigate the spread of the virus, and noted that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has been "taking it seriously from a public health perspective" while Trump is focused on reopening the economy regardless of how many people are becoming ill and dying.
Although the president does not have the authority to dismiss a career civil servant, he signed an executive order last month making it easier for some federal employees to be fired without cause. It's unclear if Fauci's job security could be affected by the order.
A viral video of the rally garnered stunned responses on social media.
Trump's suggestion that he would fire the nation's top public health expert was "quite a closing message as Covid cases spike across the country," tweeted PBS Newshour reporter Yamiche Alcindor.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
President Donald Trump on Sunday night suggested he would fire Dr. Anthony Fauci "a little after the election"--comments that came after the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the nation's most respected public health experts, criticized the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic in an interview with the Washington Post.
At a late-night rally in Florida, Trump supporters broke into a chant of "Fire Fauci!" after the president complained about news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 230,000 Americans this year and is currently spiking in states including Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Iowa.
Trump repeated a baseless claim that the U.S. is "rounding the turn" even as healthcare workers in Wisconsin and Texas worked in field hospitals that have been set up to cope with the influx of Covid-19 patients, before saying the press would "like to talk about Covid and then...November 4, you won't hear too much about it."
"Don't tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election," Trump said in response to the chant, leading the audience to erupt in cheers.
The White House was angered over the weekend by Fauci's interview with the Post, in which the doctor said the U.S. is poorly positioned to confront the pandemic during the winter months, as the president has undermined public health messaging about simple safety precautions people can take to avoid the spread of Covid-19.
Fauci called for an "abrupt change" in public health practices, such as adherence to social distancing and mask-wearing, in order to mitigate the spread of the virus, and noted that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has been "taking it seriously from a public health perspective" while Trump is focused on reopening the economy regardless of how many people are becoming ill and dying.
Although the president does not have the authority to dismiss a career civil servant, he signed an executive order last month making it easier for some federal employees to be fired without cause. It's unclear if Fauci's job security could be affected by the order.
A viral video of the rally garnered stunned responses on social media.
Trump's suggestion that he would fire the nation's top public health expert was "quite a closing message as Covid cases spike across the country," tweeted PBS Newshour reporter Yamiche Alcindor.
President Donald Trump on Sunday night suggested he would fire Dr. Anthony Fauci "a little after the election"--comments that came after the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the nation's most respected public health experts, criticized the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic in an interview with the Washington Post.
At a late-night rally in Florida, Trump supporters broke into a chant of "Fire Fauci!" after the president complained about news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 230,000 Americans this year and is currently spiking in states including Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Iowa.
Trump repeated a baseless claim that the U.S. is "rounding the turn" even as healthcare workers in Wisconsin and Texas worked in field hospitals that have been set up to cope with the influx of Covid-19 patients, before saying the press would "like to talk about Covid and then...November 4, you won't hear too much about it."
"Don't tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election," Trump said in response to the chant, leading the audience to erupt in cheers.
The White House was angered over the weekend by Fauci's interview with the Post, in which the doctor said the U.S. is poorly positioned to confront the pandemic during the winter months, as the president has undermined public health messaging about simple safety precautions people can take to avoid the spread of Covid-19.
Fauci called for an "abrupt change" in public health practices, such as adherence to social distancing and mask-wearing, in order to mitigate the spread of the virus, and noted that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has been "taking it seriously from a public health perspective" while Trump is focused on reopening the economy regardless of how many people are becoming ill and dying.
Although the president does not have the authority to dismiss a career civil servant, he signed an executive order last month making it easier for some federal employees to be fired without cause. It's unclear if Fauci's job security could be affected by the order.
A viral video of the rally garnered stunned responses on social media.
Trump's suggestion that he would fire the nation's top public health expert was "quite a closing message as Covid cases spike across the country," tweeted PBS Newshour reporter Yamiche Alcindor.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.