The president’s retweet triggered a swift backlash — and eventually a disavowal from Trump himself.
A single weekend retweet from Donald Trump — as he’s done thousands of times during his presidency — kicked up a storm of outrage and concern about the president’s state of mind, his reliance on health experts and his path ahead for digging the nation out of a coronavirus shutdown.
Trump on Sunday evening retweeted a former Republican congressional candidate’s criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and perhaps the most prominent public health official on the White House’s coronavirus task force. The pointed social media post concluded with the hashtag #FireFauci, sparking speculation that the doctor might soon be dismissed.
“Fauci is now saying that had Trump listened to the medical experts earlier he could’ve saved more lives. Fauci was telling people on February 29th that there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large. Time to #FireFauci,” former congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine wrote on Twitter. Trump, in sharing Lorraine’s post, added “Sorry Fake News, it’s all on tape. I banned China long before people spoke up.”
The president’s retweet triggered tens of thousands of tweets throughout Monday morning with the #FireFauci hashtag, generating worries even from lawmakers and supporters. Fauci, who has served in his role since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, has an approval rating of nearly 80 percent among both Republicans and Democrats, a sign of rare bipartisan credibility during a global crisis that has shut down the economy and scrambled an election year…
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