President Donald Trump spent part of the day on Monday lashing out at Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, and his medical advice.
After Trump leveled a series of attacks against Fauci, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden blasted Trump for his attacks and claimed the president has wallowed in “self-pity” instead of taking action to combat the coronavirus.
“Coronavirus infections are spiking across the country, but President Trump decided to attack Dr. Fauci again today as a ‘disaster’ and call public health experts’ idiots’ instead of laying out a plan to beat this virus or heading their advice about how we can save lives and get our economy moving again,” Biden said in a statement on Monday.
He noted that Trump tried to take a shot at the former vice president for saying he would listen to scientists, “That’s not an attack, that’s a badge of honor.”
He continued, “The American people have never backed down from a challenge, but they need a leader to show the way, and all President Trump has done is cower and wallow in self-pity.”
“Mr. President, you’re right about one thing: the American people are tired. They’re tired of your lies about this virus. They’re tired of watching more Americans die, and more people lose their jobs because you refuse to take this pandemic seriously,” he added.
Read the statement below:
Statement just released by @JoeBiden campaign about the latest @POTUS attacks on Dr. Fauci. #CoronavirusUSA #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/d8wWf7O0fu
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) October 19, 2020
In a phone call with campaign staffers, Trump called Fauci a “disaster” and said, “People are tired of Covid. People are saying, ‘Whatever, just leave us alone.’ People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.”
In separate tweets, he said, “He seems to get more airtime than anybody since the late, great, Bob Hope. All I ask of Tony is that he make better decisions.”
“P.S. 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!” he added.