White House Defends Dr. Fauci from Attacks by Trump’s Trade Adviser

Somehow, some way, the lingering coronavirus crisis has now become a political issue, and much of our national attention has been focused on arguments for and against certain preventative measures being touted by our medical professionals.

Of course, this is not difficult to understand:  Our public servants are far more interested in keeping their jobs than they are at actually serving their constituents, and thusly will say whatever they think is going to keep them from exiting the Washington swamp.  It’s the same for coronavirus as it is for any other issue these days, and it has been a real disservice to the American people.

This week, for instance, one of the President’s top trade advisers launched a vicious attack on one of the nation’s most notable experts on infectious disease, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The White House wasn’t having it.

The White House on Wednesday disavowed an overt attack on the government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, from one of President Trump’s senior advisers on trade and China, Peter Navarro.

Navarro wrote an op-ed for USA Today on Tuesday in which he argued that Fauci “has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on” — another salvo in a series of pointed remarks against the immunologist.

The White House has struggled to explain why top aides appear to be at open war with a widely respected scientist whom an overwhelming majority of Americans say they trust more on the coronavirus than the president, or almost anyone else.

Navarro, who has no medical training, ticked through a series of matters on which he disagreed with Fauci, including the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus. The National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have said the malaria drug is unlikely to be effective.

Again, it should be reiterated that COVID-19 and the strain of coronavirus that causes the illness have no political affiliations, nor will the virus be affected by the machinations of the Washington elite.  This is a biological, scientific, medical issue, and no amount of blustering and bombast will change the trajectory of this deadly disease.