OPINION:
President Donald Trump suggested to a Florida rally crowd he might fire Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, once Election Day has passed.
This is called an About Time moment. Fauci should’ve been fired long ago.
Truth be told, Fauci never should have been granted the wide-scale, nationwide public platform at the White House in the first place. He should’ve been kept behind scenes, as one of many COVID-19 advisers to the president. He only should have been given the media platform when he was speaking a tightly controlled administration-penned message. Why?
The guy’s done nothing but push economic, social, education and political policy for months — all under the guise of giving good medical advice — all the while pretending he’s stayed far and clear from policy and politics.
He’s been a tool of the left.
And my, how the left has taken hold and used him to jab this president.
“Fire Fauci” — that was the chant at Florida’s weekend rally. And it came after Trump was speaking about the unfair and outright skewed media coverage of COVID-19, his response to COVID-19 and the level of danger COVID-19 currently presents.
To that, Trump said, as CNN noted: “Don’t tell anybody but let me wait until a little bit after the election. I appreciate the advice.”
Trump also said that Fauci was “a nice guy, but he’s been wrong a lot.”
Wrong? Or politically motivated?
“Fauci: ’I don’t understand why’ every state hasn’t issued stay-at-home orders,” CNN reported in April.
“Fauci warns Covid-19 cases could surge if stay-home orders lifted too quickly,” The Guardians reported later that same month.
“Dr. Anthony Fauci says U.S. coronavirus cases are surging because nation didn’t totally shut down,” CNBC wrote in July.
“Fauci: Put Aside Politics And Put On A Mask,” Forbes reported just a few days ago.
“Fauci: Masks, Social Distancing Likely Until 2022,” WebMD reported a couple weeks ago.
“Fauci Says Nationwide Face Mask Rule May Be Needed,” WebMd reported, just a few days ago.
Policy much? Politick much?
These are all matters for the people to decide — for the politicians who represent the people to decide. Not an unelected, often-wrong, best-guessing, computer-modeling medical bureaucrat whose errors leave lasting, oft-massive impacts on individuals, families and business-owners. But then again, Fauci can afford to be wrong. He won’t be held accountable for his errors; he can always skate by saying he was simply offering the best-practice medical advice at the time.
The White House is finally fed up.
After Fauci yet again entered the political arena and told the Washington Post that America was facing “a whole lot of hurt” in the coming coronavirus months, the White House shot back: shut up.
“All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors,” he said. “You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.”
Fauci also sung Joe Biden’s praises and told The Post that the Democrat’s campaign was “taking it seriously from a public health perspective” — versus Team Trump, “looking at it from a different perspective.” In other words: Because Trump cares deeply about opening the economy, he’s somehow ignoring the coronavirus.
This is maddening.
Americans need to make their own medical decisions. They also need to provide for their own families, rather than stay at home and wait for the Big Government bailout — a condition that would decimate individual rights, grow the feds’ footprints and turn an economy from entrepreneurial and free-market creativity to socialist.
John Deere, White House spokesman, called out Fauci’s remarks as “unacceptable.”
Deere went on: “It’s unacceptable and breaking with all norms for Dr. Fauci, a senior member of the president’s coronavirus Task Force and someone who has praised President Trump’s actions throughout the pandemic, to choose three days before an election to play politics. As a member of the Task Force, Dr. Fauci has a duty to express concerns or push for a change in strategy, but he’s not done that, instead choosing to criticize the president in the media and make his political leanings known by praising the president’s opponent — exactly what the American people have come to expect from The Swamp.”
Yes, Fauci’s remarks are swamps.
But they’ve been that way for some time.
He should have been fired long ago. And most likely, the only reason he’s still around is the leftist-leaning media would have a field day with defending him and using him as another hammer to destroy this administration.
Hopefully, his time of influence is just hours from end.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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