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President Donald Trump disparaged infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on a call with campaign staff Monday as a 'disaster,' tearing into experts as 'idiots' and saying Americans are 'tired of COVID' in comments which leaked almost instantly.
Two weeks before Election Day, with coronavirus cases spiking once again, the president unloaded on Fauci, who polls have shown to be one of the nation's most trusted figures, blasting him for his virus warnings and even his public persona.
With the coronavirus pandemic posing an ongoing threat to his reelection, Trump predicted victory – something he said he would not have done a few weeks ago when he was hospitalized at Walter Reed medical center with the disease.
'We're going to win. I wouldn't have told you that maybe two or three weeks ago,' he said on the leaked call.
The president vented about lockdowns and Fauci in particular, after the expert has expressed increasing frustration with the lack of direction on social distancing and mask wearing that Fauci says could save thousands of lives.
He spoke out after saying on Sunday night that the U.S. would be in a 'massive depression' if he had listened to the scientists on coronavirus - while Dr Anthony Fauci told 60 Minutes he was 'absolutely not' surprised Trump had fallen ill from the virus after attending the White House super-spreader event for Amy Coney Barrett and not wearing a mask.
'People are tired of Covid,' Trump said Monday on the conference call to top aides which was reported by CNN, CBS, Axios, Bloomberg and the New York Times.
'People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all these idiots who got it wrong,' he said, going further than in public comments where he has undermined current health directives by pointing to indecision from experts early in the pandemic.
At a rally in Prescott, Arizona, he vented further on the theme: 'They're getting tired of the pandemic, aren't we?
'You turn on CNN. That's all they cover. Covid, covid, pandemic. Covid, covid, covid. They're trying to talk people out of voting...People aren't buying it, CNN, you dumb b*****ds.'
'They're getting tired of the pandemic, aren't we? You turn on CNN. That's all they cover. Covid, covid, pandemic. Covid, covid, covid. They're trying to talk people out of voting...People aren't buying it, CNN, you dumb b******s.'
Trump called Fauci a 'disaster,' but revealed he believes he cannot fire him.
'Every time he goes on television, there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. This guy's a disaster,' Trump vented.
'Fauci is a nice guy,' Trump said of the career civil servant, who has spent months cautioning Americans about avoiding large gatherings and indoor spaces through TV appearances. But complained: 'He's been here for 500 years.
'If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths,' Trump said.
'People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone,' said the president, in the midst of a cross-country campaign tour that has featured a series of large rallies where attendees are not socially distanced and many eschew masks.
