Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Fauci Pulls A Reverse Trump.




As anyone who has been paying attention knows Donald Trump's modus operandi is to say the most extreme stuff possible one minute and then pull back the next all in an effort to get maximum short-term deflector spike spin.

Case in point - bleach injections one minute, just joking the next.

Well, it looks like Tony Fauci may have just pulled a reverse Trump.

Specifically, he first somewhat surreptitiously signalled to the NY Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg that he was going to say something extreme and accusatory on Monday:

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and a central figure in the government’s response to the coronavirus, plans to deliver a stark warning to the Senate on Tuesday: Americans would experience “needless suffering and death” if the country opens up prematurely...


Then on Tuesday, Fauci toned down the extreme language to essentially say the same thing, in front of the cameras, to the US Senate:

...“If we do not respond in an adequate way when the fall comes, given that it is without a doubt that there will be infections that will be in the community, then we run the risk of having a resurgence,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, an infectious disease expert and the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.


He added that “there is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control” if the economy opens too quickly, “leading to some suffering and death that could be avoided.”...



Of course, Fauci's reverse Trump is actually based in fact and reality. Here's hoping his strategic message lasts more than one news cycle and that the original language becomes embedded in the public psyche.


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Meanwhile, Mr. Musk is pushing ahead with his experiment on the workers who build his cars in Fremont California.


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6 comments:

Keith said...

yep, I think you’re right Ross. When he’s around the alternative fact purveyors, he gently tries to bring the conversation back to the real world. When outside of the spin cycle he is usually right on the money with the realities, in a way that all can grasp and believe if they choose to without going over the top. Every now and again he is on CNN with Chris Cuomo, and hitting fox news with facts and science which I’m sure doesn’t win him any friends inside trump world.

Another good write up from yesterday’s testimony.


https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/dr-anthony-fauci-rained-on-donald-trumps-hasty-reopening-parade

RossK said...

Thanks Keith.

And thanks for prodding me to go back and have a closer look at yesterdays's Senate Committee testimony.


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Lew said...

"It's just -- to me it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools," Trump said.

"These are young students. They're in great shape," he said, going on to suggest the benefits outweigh the risks for higher education institutions.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/politics/donald-trump-anthony-fauci-schools-reopening/index.html

I was still shaking my head in disgust at the quotes in the article detailing how Trump is miffed about Fauci’s cautious advice on opening up when I saw something that illustrates we have callous politicians in this neck of the woods too.

Here’s a quote from Laurie Throness, BC Liberal MLA from Chilliwack on Twitter today:

“BC needs to watch its COVID expenditures - why? Because provinces deal in real dollars - only the feds can print money and change interest rates. We spend real dollars and incur real deficits that require real tax increases to pay for them. The solution? Back to work.”

Real people and real deaths don’t seem to enter the equation for this guy. I for one am glad he’s not now, and is very unlikely to ever be, in charge of anything.

keith said...

Should be a few headlines on Thursday 14th May. Dr. Rick Bright the head of vaccines sidelined for telling the truth is also in front of a committee.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/politics/rick-bright-testimony-congress/index.html

RossK said...

Thanks for heads-up Lew.

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Keith--

Thanks - Have been following Dr. Bright's story. His may be the most egregious next to that of the coronavirus hunter who had his US-Nat'l Inst of Health grant, which was ranked in the top 3% of all applicants, pulled because he had the audacity to look for the virus in China.


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e.a.f. said...

Musk, just another billionaire interested in his own money, not in people. He led people to believe he was interested in the environment, but he isn't, its all about the money.

I suspect he knows this isn't going away, because he is selling off his houses, he wants fluidity. Watch him walk away from it all, when he has enough personal cash and sits the catastrophy out.