It’s not unusual that President Trump and his team should try to attack or undercut someone. Trump likes to call himself a counterpuncher, which is true only in the sense that he also gets to pick what counts as a punch. So we’ve seen a by-now-uncountable number of beefs, disputes and conflicts between Trump and everyone from random Americans to former confidantes.
It’s also not entirely unusual that Trump would attack someone over whom he has authority within the government. There are enough former administration officials who have been the targets of abuse by Trump after leaving government service that they could form a small basketball league. But there are also a handful who were attacked while still working in his administration: members of the FBI, his former attorney general.
What’s unusual about the White House’s efforts to undermine Anthony S. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading voice on the novel coronavirus pandemic, is that the only way in which Fauci has undercut the president is by being honest about the moment. Continue reading.