London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 10, 2025

Trump Unloads on Fauci, Calls Him a ‘Disaster’ and an ‘Idiot’ About Coronavirus

Trump Unloads on Fauci, Calls Him a ‘Disaster’ and an ‘Idiot’ About Coronavirus

President threw a tantrum about the nation’s top infectious-disease doctor on a campaign call, one day after the NIH expert’s “60 Minutes” interview aired.

President Donald Trump on Monday unloaded on Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, complaining that those working to curtail the coronavirus pandemic that has killed almost 220,000 Americans are all “idiots.”

“People are tired of COVID. I have these huge rallies. People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They’re tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots,” Trump said during a campaign call from his hotel in Las Vegas.

The president then called Fauci “a disaster” and lamented that he would receive lots of negative press if he fired the public-health expert because he is a “nice guy.”



Hours later, Trump renewed his attacks on Fauci, who has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and is also a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. In a series of tweets, Trump insisted all he asked of Fauci is to “make better decisions.”

Upon arriving in Arizona on Monday afternoon, Trump slammed Fauci a third time, saying that the doctor is a “very nice man” but “sometimes he says things that are a little bit off.”

“He’s been there for about 350 years, I don’t want to hurt him,” he added, before accusing Fauci of making some “bad calls.”



Tensions between the president and Fauci and other public-health officials and government scientists working to mitigate the highly contagious virus have been building for months. The divide has been made worse in recent weeks after a Trump campaign ad included footage and a misleading audio clip from Fauci to buttress the president’s widely panned leadership on the virus that has infected more than 8 million Americans. Fauci has called out the president for the spot, telling The Daily Beast it was “in effect, harassing me.”

“Every time he goes on television there’s always a bomb, but there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him. This guy’s a disaster,” Trump said on the campaign call, according to multiple reporters who were listening in.

In the same interview with The Daily Beast, Fauci stressed there was “not a chance” that he would quit his position.



Over the last month—and since his own COVID-19 diagnosis—Trump has been touring America and claiming the nation is “rounding the corner” on COVID-19, even though infections are now surging with daily averages of more than 50,000 a day. Experts believe the spread of the virus will only get worse as winter looms.

However, that looming health threat did nothing to slow down Trump on Monday in his campaign phone call.

“Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths,” he said, before later adding—baselessly—that it would be 700,000 or 800,000, after a weekend of rallies full of crowds that flouted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines of social distancing and face-mask use. There is no evidence to suggest Fauci, or any other U.S. public-health official associated with the COVID-19 response, would be responsible for the hundreds of thousands of American deaths if in charge.

“If there’s a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn’t care less,” Trump added.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) came to Fauci’s defense Monday, calling the infectious disease doctor “one of our country’s most distinguished public servants” who has served six administrations.

“If more Americans paid attention to his advice, we’d have fewer cases of COVID-19, & it would be safer to go back to school & back to work & out to eat,” Alexander wrote on Twitter. The Republican lawmaker is set to retire this year.

Former Vice President Joe Biden also slammed his presidential opponent for insulting Fauci and other public health officials. “The American people are tired,” he said in a statement. “They’re tired of your lies about this virus.”

Trump’s slam against Fauci came the morning after the National Institutes of Health official’s interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes aired. On the broadcast, Fauci suggested the president’s reluctance to wear a face mask in public amid a pandemic is because he “equates wearing a mask with weakness.” Fauci added that Trump’s refusal to adhere to guidelines implemented by his own public-health experts is “less an anti-science [position] than it’s more a statement.”

“You know, a statement of strength,” Fauci said. “Like, ‘We’re strong. We don’t need a mask.’ That kind of thing. He sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness.”

Dismissing Trump’s claims that the pandemic’s end is near, Fauci admitted during the Sunday interview that he was not surprised that the president contracted COVID-19 after failure to take precautions at White House events. One of those events includes the announcement of Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court in the Rose Garden, a gathering attended by at least 13 people who became infected.

“I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask,” Fauci said. “When I saw that on TV, I said, ‘Oh my goodness. Nothing good can come out of that, that’s got to be a problem.’ And then, sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event.”

Fauci also told 60 Minutes that he and his family have received death threats because of his role advising the government’s response to the crisis.

On Monday, Trump specifically attacked Fauci’s media appearance. “Dr. Tony Fauci says we don’t allow him to do television, and yet I saw him last night on @60Minutes, and he seems to get more airtime than anybody since the late, great, Bob Hope,” the president tweeted. “All I ask of Tony is that he make better decisions. He said ‘no masks & let China in.’”

Trump then took aim at Fauci’s first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game earlier this year, insisting, “Tony should stop wearing the Washington Nationals’ Mask for two reasons. Number one, it is not up to the high standards that he should be exposing. Number two, it keeps reminding me that Tony threw out perhaps the worst first pitch in the history of Baseball!”

Trump shocked the world when he tweeted at 12:54 a.m. on Oct. 1 that he and wife Melania had both tested positive for the virus, throwing his re-election campaign into chaos and presenting the most serious health threat to a sitting president in decades.

After Trump spent three nights in the hospital, White House physician Sean Conley cleared the 74-year-old president to return to the campaign trail last Monday, stating that he had tested negative “on consecutive days.” Ever since his discharge, however, Trump has downplayed his symptoms and has since posited himself as a “warrior” against the virus, claiming as he was released from the hospital on Oct. 5 that he felt “better than I did 20 years ago!”

Comments

Oh ya 5 year ago
The Dr changes his mind more than a teenager girl trying to decide what to wear to the mall on Saturday afternoon. Travel ban no travel ban. Masks no masks, lockdown no lockdown. Nov 4th he should be looking for a new job

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
×