Fauci draws GOP ire but Kennedy may be making him a problem for Trump
CNN
The public lashing Dr. Anthony Fauci faced on Capitol Hill Monday was illustrative of his enduring unpopularity with the GOP’s conservative base. Yet even as Republicans seek to capitalize on that dislike of the infectious disease expert, former President Donald Trump’s past elevation of Fauci is a potential vulnerability as he fights off an insurgent independent campaign from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The public lashing Dr. Anthony Fauci faced on Capitol Hill Monday was illustrative of his enduring unpopularity with the GOP’s conservative base. Yet even as Republicans seek to capitalize on that dislike of the infectious disease expert, former President Donald Trump’s past elevation of Fauci is a potential vulnerability as he fights off an insurgent independent campaign from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Increasingly, Kennedy’s third-party White House bid is gaining traction by attacking Trump’s Covid-19 policies. He has, for example, accused Trump of “inventing lockdowns” and has questioned the safety of the Covid vaccine his administration helped develop. Kennedy has also jabbed Trump over his reliance on Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. He recently launched a line of merchandise tying Trump and Fauci together. “Vote for Trump/Fauci 2024,” the new campaign shirts say, along with a tongue-in-cheek slogan: “Give us another shot!” Trump has attempted to downplay Fauci’s role in his administration. In an interview last month with Tim Pool, a podcaster favored by the far right, Trump claimed Fauci “wasn’t a big player in my administration like he was after I left when Biden made him the king of everything.” At Monday’s House subcommittee hearing about the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Republicans didn’t mention Trump in their grilling of Fauci — his first public testimony on the Hill since retiring. But Trump’s party increasingly has made Fauci an avatar of the retribution they are seeking if the Republican returns to office. At the macro-level, his supporters have proposed ideas that would make it easier to fire federal workers, like Fauci. Trump has repeatedly suggested he couldn’t fire Fauci during his term because of laws that protect career civil servants.
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