By Aaron Miller-
A retweet by president Donald Trump on Sunday evening of a former GOP congressional candidate’s criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections is trending on twitter. The pointed social media post marked with the hashtag #FireFauci, has sparked speculation that the prominent medical expert is about to be fired from the team aiding the Whitehouse on the coronavirus pandemic.
Anthony Fauci’s confirmation of a damning report about the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak prompted tweets by Donald Trump and a new round of speculation about whether the president will move to fire his top public health expert. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley refuted the widespread speculation in a statement: “This media chatter is ridiculous. President Trump is not firing Dr Fauci.”
Fauci had been set up for the response by CNN’s Jake Tapper when he asked if lives would have been saved had social distancing been implemented earlier, Fauci said: “I mean, obviously, if we had, right from the very beginning, shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then.”
Fauci is high;y regarded in his field and has acknowledged Trump for often listening to his advice on substantive issues, noting that the president generally has his own views on things and disagrees with him on some matters.