Trump Doubles Down on Campaign Ad Using Dr. Fauci’s Words Out of Context: ‘We Have Done a Phenomenal Job…Many People Agree’
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
President Donald Trump’s campaign got called out Sunday for using a video clip of Dr. Anthony Fauci purportedly praising the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic — but the quote was taken out of context and Fauci publicly criticized the ad. Now, Trump is doubling down on the ad, insisting in a tweet that it was fine because “they are indeed Dr. Fauci’s own words.”
As Mediaite reported earlier, the campaign ad uses a clip of Fauci from an interview back in March praising the coordinated response of the administration to the pandemic as “impressive.”
“I can’t imagine that that under any circumstances that anybody could be doing more,” Fauci says in the clip.
The trouble, as the original interview and Fauci’s own comments today make clear, is that the clip is out of context.
Besides being from all the way back in March, when the coronavirus was still a very new issue and the cases and death toll were far lower, Fauci was praising the work of his fellow members on the White House coronavirus task force and those in the agencies that were supporting their work.
Fauci’s words were not a compliment directed at the president, and he released a statement to CNN denouncing the ad as being made “without my permission” and characterized his comments as being part of a “broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials.”
The doctor also reiterated that he had never publicly endorsed a political candidate.
Trump responded to the whole kerfuffle on — where else? — his Twitter account, retweeting a journalist who had quoted his campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh calling the comments “Dr Fauci’s own words.”
“They are indeed Dr. Fauci’s own words,” tweeted Trump, praising himself for having done a “phenomenal” job and promising “Vaccines & Cures, long ahead of projections!”
They are indeed Dr. Fauci’s own words. We have done a “phenomenal” job, according to certain governors. Many people agree…And now come the Vaccines & Cures, long ahead of projections! https://t.co/ANqKL4eBqJ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2020
Trump’s tweet served to escalate attention on the story, with many puzzled reactions from political observers viewing this as an unhelpful topic for the president to direct his campaign’s energy and press attention towards, especially considering the polling data on the issue of the pandemic, and how Trump had handled it.
Trump can still win. But on the other hand, if you’re deriving a model from history, it implicitly presumes some baseline level of competence from a presidental campaign that may not be compatible with, say, getting into a public spat with Dr. Fauci 3 weeks out from the election.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 11, 2020
Apparently, the Trump campaign thinks it’s smart politics to pick a fight with Dr. Fauci three weeks before Election Day. Their ad is misleading and Fauci says his words “were taken out of context.” Remember: 68% of Americans say they trust Fauci, and 62% distrust Trump on Covid.
— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) October 11, 2020
The latest @realDonaldTrump campaign ad using Dr. Fauci’s comments out of context is pathetic. I witnessed the President & WH leadership repeatedly disrespect Dr. Fauci & ignore his advice, leading to POTUS’s colossal failure of a pandemic response. @TimMurtaugh HOW DARE YOU.
— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) October 11, 2020
