Anybody remember this joke about anti-Trump media? If Donald Trump walked on water across the Potomac, FakeNews would report it as ‘President Can’t Swim’
That appears to be the context in which CNN’s interview with Dr. Fauci was reported after it concluded on Sunday. CNN took Fauci’s ‘…sure, if mitigations had happened sooner fewer people would’ve died…’ and distorted it to report Trump failed Americans.
They took a theoretical generalization, and deceptively turned it into a real failure.
Those who took to the airwaves this morning calling for the President to fire Fauci need to take a close look at what CNN asked, how Fauci answered, and what CNN reported.
(Rush, sounds like that includes you, too.)
Fauci knows what HE was saying back in January and February. Specifically, he said as late as Feb 29 that Americans didn’t need to change their lives and habits drastically.
He was quoted widely on several occasions in late January that Americans had nothing to fear from this new Wuhan Flu virus, and there was no need to unduly panic people.
The President invoked a travel ban from China at the end of January…5 weeks before Dr Fauci was still saying in late February that Americans didn’t need to curtail habits.
We’ve posted his CNN interview below. As you’ll see when reading it, Fauci NEVER stated recommended specific actions that weren’t accepted, just generalizations, but that’s all CNN needs in order to repaint the canvas with anti-Trump brushstrokes.
Note that the doctor never specifically mentioned dates WHEN recommendations were made, or specifically if/when the recommendations were not accepted. CNN in their most ‘helpful’ anti-Trump manner, broadly reports what the doctor NEVER said.
That’s how it works with FakeNews…so give Dr. Fauci a break, okay?
Fauci’s Comments (generalizations CNN used as realities in bold/underline emphasis):
“I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives,” Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” when asked if social distancing and stay-at-home measures could have prevented deaths had they been put in place in February, instead of mid-March.
“Obviously, no one is going to deny that. But what goes into those decisions is complicated,” added Fauci, who is a key member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force. “But you’re right, I mean, obviously, if we had right from the very beginning shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then.”
Asked why the President didn’t recommend social distancing guidelines until mid-March — about three weeks after the nation’s top health experts recommended they be put in place — Fauci said, “You know, Jake, as I have said many times, we look at it from a pure health standpoint. We make a recommendation. Often, the recommendation is taken. Sometimes it’s not. But we — it is what it is. We are where we are right now.”
