Trump Trashes ‘Radical Masker’ Fauci With Absurd Attempt to Portray Himself as Pro-Mask

Joshua Roberts / Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Dr. Anthony Fauci following the release of a trove of emails from the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

In his latest statement, Trump bragged about his decision to limit travel from China early in the coronavirus pandemic. After railing against various political foes, Trump bragged that “Tony” gave his administration credit for their efforts in Operation Warp Speed, though he predominately focused on slamming Fauci.

“After seeing the emails, our Country is fortunate I didn’t do what Dr. Fauci wanted me to do,” Trump said. “Also, Dr. Fauci was totally against masks when even I thought they would at least be helpful. He then changed his mind completely and became a radical masker!”

Trump’s attempt to portray himself as pro-mask here is laughable on its face. Throughout his presidency, Trump publicly wore a mask only a handful of times. Far more often, he undermined the wearing of masks, questioned their effectiveness, made fun of people for wearing them, and regularly held mass maskless events that flouted public safety guidelines.One prominent event culminated in a super-spreader event at the White House after which Trump, several of his allies, and top Republicans were diagnosed with Covid.

As for Fauci, the contents of his emails show him saying in the early stages of the pandemic that infected people are the ones who should wear masks. He advised against public mask-wearing. Fauci has dealt with questions about his shifting mask comments before, and Thursday on CNN, he once again explained that science works by gathering data, analyzing it, and then drawing a conclusion.

From Fauci:

Of course if we knew back then that a substantial amount of transmission was asymptomatic people, if we knew then that the data show that masks outside of a hospital setting actually do work, when we didn’t know it then; if we realize all of those things back then, of course, you are asking a question, would you have done something different if you know what you know now. Of course, people would have done that. It’s so obvious.

Critics are trying to claim that Fauci’s emails show him to be wrong or a hypocrite, whereas he and his defenders say that his positions evolved in response to continuous scientific research into the pandemic.

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