Fauci Speaks Out on Correcting Trump ‘Misrepresentations’ and Dealing with ‘Crazies Who Want to Kill Me’

Dr. Anthony Fauci singled out former President Donald Trump’s “misinformation” when CNN+ host Kasie Hunt asked about the “divisiveness” that surrounds him and his work.

Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the President, was Ms. Hunt’s guest on the latest episode of the CNN+ series The Source.

In one section of that interview, Hunt asked Fauci about the resentment that has been directed his way, and Fauci cited his public disagreements with Trump and his administration — however gently delivered — as a root cause.

DR. FAUCI: With the divisiveness during the Trump administration, it was no secret that I had to do something that was not pleasant and not comfortable, and I didn’t desire it, was I had to be publicly correcting misrepresentations on the part of the president, and on the part of people in the administration. You know, the people who were talking about hydroxychloroquine and about ivermectin, and about that the virus is going to go away, and it’s going to disappear. I had to maintain my own integrity, as well as my responsibility to the public to tell them the truth. That clearly alienated a lot of people, and that alienation has taken on a much bigger issue now, where the elements in, political elements in society have determined that now they’re going to villainize me.

So they’re going to take the person who is very much admired for reasons of caring for the public health and making it a symbol of everything that’s wrong with the world is me. I think it’s like I’m taking, I’m destroying democracy, I’m taking away people’s freedom. I’m doing all kinds of crazy things. I shouldn’t criminalize me, arrest me, kill me, hang me. Whatever they want to do that led to a lot of death threats, which are the reason why I have to have security. But it is purely a reflection of profound and really unfortunate divisiveness in society, which spills over beyond me.

Ms. Hunt asked Fauci if leaders like Trump were to blame, but Fauci couldn’t quite put his finger on the source of what he called “resentment among certain people”:

MS. HUNT: Why do you think we are in this place as a country? Is it because of the leadership that we previously had, or is it something else?

DR. FAUCI: You know, I don’t know, to be honest with you. I mean, if I knew, and people smarter than I who focus on these things more than I do, because that’s not what I focus on. They were probably things that were missed in society that created a degree of resentment among certain people. That was never addressed properly. That wasn’t paid attention to. That has created a great deal of division. And I really can’t figure out what that is. But I think people should really try and get down to the bottom of this because if we don’t solve it, I think the country is in for really serious issues and serious problem… I think we’re already in a situation of serious problems and it could very much get worse. But I don’t know what the ultimate ideology is, except that a certain segment of our society has become very alienated, is now pushing back against everything, against authority, against public health, against vaccinations. I mean, 20 years ago, you would have a scratching your head and say, my goodness, that doesn’t make any sense, why is that happening? But now it’s part of everyday fare.

Fauci has become a bit more comfortable with leveling criticisms at Trump than when President Joe Biden first took office.

Watch above via CNN+.

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