Washington: With just two weeks before Election Day, you might expect US President Donald Trump to be resolutely focused on pounding his Democratic rival Joe Biden’s weaknesses and exposing his case for a second term
Instead, Trump spent a good chunk of Tuesday (AEDT) on his feud with Anthony Fauci, the country’s foremost infectious disease expert On a conference call, Trump called Fauci a « disaster », saying: « People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots, these people, these people who got it wrong »
On Twitter, Trump hit on Fauci, claiming he had received « more airtime than anyone since the late Bob Hope » and mocking him for his wayward speech in the season opener baseball 2020
At an afternoon rally in Arizona, Trump attacked Biden’s coronavirus policy, saying: « He wants to listen to Dr Fauci »
This follows a string of attacks on Fauci in recent days, including Trump calling him a Democrat and friend of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Fauci has served under the Republican and Democratic Presidents since the Reagan era and n ‘has never been associated with either party
Taking pot photos at the Fauci is exactly the type of unruly behavior Republican strategists want Trump to avoid at this point in the campaign.There is no political advantage to be gained from attacking a national figure highly respected and popular
A September poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that 68% of Americans have a great or enough confidence in Fauci to provide reliable information on the coronavirus This compared to 52% for Biden and just under 40% for Trump
This is why veteran Republican senators have advised Trump to remain closely loyal to the Fauci in the early days of the pandemic; they were hoping that some of his scientific credibility might rub off on Trump with independent voters But that was the road not taken
Feuding with Fauci also increases the prominence of the coronavirus, and that’s bad news for Trump Polls consistently show six in 10 Americans disapprove of Trump’s manipulation of the virus: as a rule, any day not dominated by COVID -19 is a good one for Trump He’d better highlight his handling of the economy, which the Americans give him good marks for, or target Biden for refusing to say if he will expand the size of the Supreme Court
Trump’s attacks on the Fauci are more psychological than political – they represent Trump’s need to assert dominance over anyone he sees as a threat Fauci has continued to speak candidly throughout the pandemic, even if that’s not what Trump wants to hear In a 60-minute interview aired in the United States this weekend, he said he was « absolutely not » surprised that Trump contracted COVID-19 after mingling with people at large social gatherings
Trump won in 2016 because he was able to effectively channel the grievances of his supporters over trade, immigration, and left-wing prejudice in the media He tapped into concerns that other Republican candidates didn’t were unwilling or unable to grasp Tackling a valued figure like Fauci is just a matter of harboring a personal grudge
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World News – AU – Trump’s feud with Fauci exactly what Republicans want to avoid
