Trump Calls Fauci “an Idiot” and a “Disaster,” Says “People Are Tired of COVID”

President Donald Trump disparaged infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on a call with campaign staff, tearing into experts as ‘idiots’ and saying Americans are ‘tired of COVID.’

In an election upended by the coronavirus, the president vented about lockdowns and Fauci in particular, after the expert has expressed increasing frustration with the lack of direction on social distancing and mask wearing that Fauci says could save thousands of lives.

The foul-mouthed tirade came as U.S. coronavirus infections appeared to be experiencing another spike, with 220000 Americans dead of the disease already.

‘People are tired of Covid,’ Trump said on the leaked call. 

‘People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all these idiots who got it wrong,’ he said, going further than in public comments where he has undermined current health directives by pointing to indecision from experts early in the pandemic.

“PEOPLE ARENT BUYING IT CNN, YOU DUMB BASTARDS”https://t.co/C9AC5jtfRC

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) October 19, 2020

Trump called Fauci a ‘disaster,’ but revealed he believes he cannot fire him.

‘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 vented.

‘Fauci is a nice guy,’ Trump said of the career civil servant, who has spent months cautioning Americans about avoiding large gatherings and indoor spaces through TV appearances. But complained: ‘He’s been here for 500 years.’

Fauci, 79, has spent decades advising U.S. presidents on disease outbreaks, and became a known public figure during the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic.

‘If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths,’ Trump fumed about Fauci, without offering evidence.

‘People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone,’ said the president, in the midst of a cross-country campaign tour that has featured a series of large rallies where attendees are not socially distanced and many eschew masks.

His attacks come amid dangerous trends for infections, deaths, and test positivity rates. The U.S. has been logging more than 50,000 infections a day, with numbers approaching mid-summer highs.

A host of reporters were on the call – a matter that Trump appeared to anticipate and brush off.

‘If there’s a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn’t care less,’ he said.

The New York Times and CNN were among those listening.

Trump predicted victory but said he wouldn’t have said that a few weeks ago

‘We’re going to win. I wouldn’t have told you that maybe two or three weeks ago,’ he said.

Democrats have been running up an advantage in early voting, and have built up a big fundraising advantage in recent months, but might turn out in large numbers on Election Day.

Trump says he will hold as many as five rallies a day in the home stretch of the election, where polls show him trailing Joe Biden but Trump said he now views himself as likely to win.

”Don’t feel sorry for me, don’t say, ‘How the hell does he do it?” Trump said.

He briefly jumped off the trail after being hospitalized for the coronavirus, but now says he is cured.

Fauci heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – a group Fauci revealed has drastically scaled back its meetings even as the pandemic rages on.

The U.S. death toll has topped 220,000.

Trump’s call-in to his staff featured some of the same grievances as his rallies and public comments, although with sharper language. He vented that the New York Times doesn’t call him for comment, although he spoke to one of its reporters at length around the GOP convention.

‘But our people don’t read the New York Times. They couldn’t give a s*** about it,’ Trump said.

Source: The Daily Mail