Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci addressed President Donald Trump saying he was “a little bit of an alarmist” during a “Fox News Sunday,” interview.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “The president today insisted that the U.S. is doing great when it comes to handling this virus compared to the rest of the world. Empirically, that’s not true. The U.S. is currently, according to official numbers, the global leader in cases, the global leader in deaths. For contacts, the U.S. has about 4 to 5% of the world’s population —4 to 5% of the world’s population, but we have about 25% of the world’s COVID-19 deaths. This weekend President Trump called you an alarmist. I know you don’t like to get involved with tit for tats with President Trump, but is the charge fair do you think? Are you an alarmist?”
Fauci said, “Well, I mean people have their opinion about my reaction to things. I consider myself more a realist than an alarmist. But, you know, people do have their opinions other than that. I’ve always thought of myself as a realist when it comes to this.”
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