Fauci expressed disillusionment with ‘rambling, crazy’ Trump in journal

Dr Anthony Fauci looks on as Donald Trump speak to reporters following a meeting of the coronavirus taskforce at the White House on 7 April 2020. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Dr Anthony Fauci looks on as Donald Trump speak to reporters following a meeting of the coronavirus taskforce at the White House on 7 April 2020. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Fauci expressed disillusionment with ‘rambling, crazy’ Trump in journal Former top US health official wrote about challenging interactions with publicity-fixated Trump during Covid Diary entries released by a Republican senator in an attempt to damage Anthony Fauci also show the former top US government science adviser’s growing disillusionment with Donald Trump in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, branding the president “rambling”, “crazy”, “desperate”, “bumbling”, “incompetent”, “an idiot”, “a true embarrassment”, “totally nuts” and “truly an obnoxious adolescent”. From the earliest days of the crisis six years ago, Fauci noted in his journal challenging interactions with the publicity-fixated Trump. On 27 February 2020, amid the first stirrings of public alarm, he wrote of a surprise late-night call, in which the US president “wanted to chat about the coronavirus situation in general”. For “about 20-25 minutes”, Fauci wrote , he “encouraged [Trump] not to underplay the seriousness of the situation since if it turns out bad, it would look like he is covering up. I even spoke to him from a political standpoint that his chances for re-election might be more damaged if he downplayed the potential spread of virus in the USA than if he said we may face serious problems and even if the Stock Market goes down further, he was at least honest and the country would respect him for it. “I thought that he heard what I said, but the next day, he again underplayed it.” By 14 March, in the thick of the first Covid shutdowns, Fauci is bemoaning Trump’s fixation on “the fluff of ratings and publicity. And so he wants us to do 2 press conferences/day – one in AM and one in PM … We now will have no time to do work.” ‘A true embarrassment’ On 22 May, Fauci wrote that Trump is “getting out of control in pushing to open up the country and get the economy back before election day. He is desparate [sic]. This is all about re-election.” That proved correct. In October 2020, Fauci wrote: “As the [presidential] election nears, the cases increase and surges are inevitable as we enter cooler weather. Trump is on the campaign trail spewing nonsense. He is really out of control. A true embarrassment.” By March 2021, having watched Trump attempt to retain power despite electoral defeat in a way that reminds him “historically of Hitler”, Fauci writes: “He is truly an obnoxious adolescent.” View image in fullscreen Anthony Fauci and Donald Trump participate in the daily coronavirus taskforce briefing at the White House on 22 April 2020. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images Fau