White House trade advisor Peter Navarro penned a controversial op-ed about Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of President Trump's coronavirus task force, for USA Today on Tuesday. In the piece, Navarro claims that Fauci "has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on."
"Dr. Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on," Navarro's opinion piece begins.
A few of those missteps by Fauci, Navarro alleges, include feuding with the president on his China travel ban, his "flip flopping on the use of masks," and his skepticism about the effectiveness of hydroxycholoroquine for COVID-19 patients. Now, the only way Navarro says he listens to the doctor, is with "skepticism and caution."
Readers were shocked to read such a scathing piece about Fauci from a member of the president's administration. The White House communications team eventually published a statement about the op-ed that has caused such a stir in Washington.
The Peter Navarro op-ed didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone. @realDonaldTrump values the expertise of the medical professionals advising his Administration.
— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) July 15, 2020
Critics have lashed out at Dr. Fauci for his consistent doom and gloom narrative about the virus. At a recent hearing, he predicted that the U.S. will soon experience more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) confronted the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, observing that he makes arbitrary decisions about how to handle the outbreak, most of which focus on what Americans can't do as opposed to what they can.
"It is a fatal conceit to believe any one person or small group of people has the knowledge necessary to direct an economy or dictate public health behavior," Sen. Paul said. "I think government health experts during the pandemic need to show caution."