White House turns on Fauci as disaster grows out of aggressive state openings

[pppolitics]

(CNN) -- Instead of focusing on the out-of-control coronavirus disaster in Florida and other early opening states, the White House is trying to destroy the reputation of one of America's most respected public servants, Dr. Anthony Fauci, for telling the truth about how bad things are getting.

President Donald Trump is meanwhile highlighting claims that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors, media and the Democrats are lying about the country's pandemic -- the world's worst -- in order to crush the economy on which he is relying for reelection.

[...]

Trump's fixation on his electoral prospects and desire to ignite an economic comeback were behind his assurances that it was safe to ease stay-at-home orders without waiting for infection curves to properly flatten. The push was eagerly embraced by some GOP governors, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is now facing heavy criticism as his state sees runaway infection rates.

[...]

Trump's earlier impatience may come back to bite him less than four months from Election Day. Some governors and city mayors are slowing or reversing reopenings. Economic and social damage from the pandemic could therefore last far longer than originally hoped as news of job losses in recent days indicates that furloughs could turn into permanent unemployment for thousands of Americans.

[...]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/politics/donald-trump-florida-coronavirus-reopening/index.html

[GeneralMacArthur]

Trump screwed up yet again by bullying states into opening early back in April/May, despite everyone (especially Fauci) protesting that it would undo all the progress and push daily infection rates even higher.

Now look at what happened.  What Fauci and Biden and the experts said would happen, that's exactly what happened.  And now Trump is furious, not because people are suffering and dying, but because higher coronavirus numbers and closing states are bad for his polling.

So he needs a new target, someone to shift the blame onto and use as a distraction for his base.  And he's settled on Fauci and the other experts.  The only people keeping this from getting even worse than it already is, despite all the roadblocks Trump throws in their way.

Can you imagine Biden doing this?  Can you imagine Obama doing this?  Can you imagine George W. Bush doing this?  This is the equivalent of if, six months after 9/11, Bush had ordered the TSA to stop running security checks, and then there was another terror attack and he tried to blame his homeland security experts for being part of a terrorist conspiracy.

Where are the Trump supporters?  Is there a single thing you can say to defend this, or is pure partisanship your only justification for staying on Team Trump?

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Trump screwed up yet again by bullying states into opening early back in April/May, despite everyone (especially Fauci) protesting that it would undo all the progress and push daily infection rates even higher.

Now look at what happened.  What Fauci and Biden and the experts said would happen, that's exactly what happened.  And now Trump is furious, not because people are suffering and dying, but because higher coronavirus numbers and closing states are bad for his polling.

So he needs a new target, someone to shift the blame onto and use as a distraction for his base.  And he's settled on Fauci and the other experts.  The only people keeping this from getting even worse than it already is, despite all the roadblocks Trump throws in their way.

Can you imagine Biden doing this?  Can you imagine Obama doing this?  Can you imagine George W. Bush doing this?  This is the equivalent of if, six months after 9/11, Bush had ordered the TSA to stop running security checks, and then there was another terror attack and he tried to blame his homeland security experts for being part of a terrorist conspiracy.

Where are the Trump supporters?  Is there a single thing you can say to defend this, or is pure partisanship your only justification for staying on Team Trump?

This is the part I find most infuriating. He genuinely does not care about the lives of people in this country. An utter sociopath.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

The Trump team has done the only sensible move at this point: bet the house on COVID-19 magically disappearing and blaming the media and experts for being a bunch of Chicken-Littles. I think it's the only shot they have of salvaging this presidency. And they probably do, too.

If they lose this bet, we could see Biden win by 15 points in November.

[Frodo]

Surely Fauci knew Trump would make him into a scapegoat if anything went wrong on Trump's watch before he took on this job.... 

[Stranger in a strange land]

Surely Fauci knew Trump would make him into a scapegoat if anything went wrong on Trump's watch before he took on this job.... 

Fauci isn't a Trump appointee and has been in his current position since 1984.