Dr. Fauci peeved that Trump campaign is skewing his words in new ad
The ad claimed Dr. Anthony Fauci approves of Donald Trump’s coronavirus response. Fauci has made clear he does not.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday it is “unfortunate and disappointing” that Donald Trump’s campaign used him in an ad that took his comments out of context.
The ad praises Trump’s coronavirus response, and prominently features Fauci saying, “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more.”
However, Fauci said when he made those comments he was referring not to Trump, but rather to the coordinated government response to the pandemic. He added that he has never endorsed a presidential candidate.
“To take a completely out-of-context statement and put it in, which is obviously a political campaign ad, I thought was really very disappointing,” Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Tapper then asked Fauci what he’d say about the Trump campaign making another ad featuring him.
“That would be terrible,” a visibly frustrated Fauci replied. “I mean that would be outrageous if they do that. In fact, that might actually come back to backfire on them.”
Polling shows Trump’s response to the pandemic is hurting his campaign, with voters saying they do not trust Trump to give them accurate information on the virus.
Polls also show that voters do not have sympathy for Trump’s own coronavirus battle, saying it’s his own fault that he got the virus due to his refusal to follow public health guidelines.
Fauci, on the other hand, is widely trusted by the public on the coronavirus, according to polls, which may be why the Trump campaign used him in an ad.
Trump and his campaign are continuing to ignore public health guidelines, with Trump’s children holding indoor rallies with maskless attendees, against medical experts’ guidelines for slowing the spread of the virus.
Trump himself plans to fly to Florida on Monday to hold what he described as a rally with “big crowds,” even though he has not been shown to have tested negative for the virus after his diagnosis and hospitalization with COVID-19.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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