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Is Trump gearing up to fire Fauci?

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Will President Donald Trump fire Dr. Anthony S. Fauci? (See video.) Indications that this might be the case ignited a mini-firestorm and the White House now denies it plans to dump him.

However, the once unthinkable has often been the norm when it comes to Donald Trump and the answer is twofold: (1)Common sense would suggest he would never fire the federal government’s top infectious disease expert who has earned the name “America’s Doctor,” but (2)Trump detests being contradicted and even moreso when his version of reality (often disproved by fact-checkers) is challenged, especially by someone who he perceives as an underling or someone who serves “at the pleasure” of the President.

Over the weekend Fauci directly contradicted Trump’s assertion of when the President learned about the virus. Axios yesterday reported that Trump and his administration were warned 10 times about the virus.

After Faluci’s comments Trump retweeted a tweet calling for the widely respected doctor’s firing. The New York Times:

“President Trump publicly signaled his frustration on Sunday with Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, after the doctor said more lives could have been saved from the coronavirus if the country had been shut down earlier.

“Mr. Trump reposted a Twitter message that said “Time to #FireFauci” as he rejected criticism of his slow initial response to the pandemic that has now killed more than 22,000 people in the United States. The president privately has been irritated at times with Dr. Fauci, but the Twitter post was the most explicit he has been in letting that show publicly.

“The message Mr. Trump retweeted came from a former Republican congressional candidate. “Fauci is now saying that had Trump listened to the medical experts earlier he could’ve saved more lives,” said the tweet by DeAnna Lorraine, who got less than 2 percent of the vote in an open primary against Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month. ‘Fauci was telling people on February 29th that there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US at large. Time to #Fire Fauci.'”

The White House has issued as statement issued a statement attacking the media and saying it is not firing Fauci. But this is likely not to deflate this story: there have been many instances where reports came out indicating Trump would fire someone or force a resignation. The reports are vigorously denied by the White House and then it happens as reported.

We’ll out more in future briefings: if Faauci is not present at them or most of them it would mean he has been sidelined. Another big hint: will Fox News hosts and Rush Limbaugh begin attacking Fauci? (Limbaugh has started)

This further underscores the ongoing battle in the administration between scientists and those who don’t believe science, think scientist and doctors exaggerate and those whose top priority (over anything) is getting Donald Trump elected.
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The Blog No More Mister Nice Blog predicts that if Trump turns on Fauci Republicans will as well. Fauci’s poll numbers are now high among all Americans, including Republicans:

But if he continues to be peeved at Fauci, one thing is certain: Fauci’s poll numbers will dip somewhat. Fauci will still get very high marks from Democrats and independents. But…if Trump turns against Fauci, Republican voters will no longer feel they have permission to like the doctor. If Trump turns on him, they’ll turn on him. I hope no one in the mainstream media believes that the inevitable dip in Fauci’s poll numbers suggests a general loss of the public’s trust. It’ll just be Republican voters..