Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg blasted the Trump administration while vigorously defending Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control during an interview with Fauci himself in which the Silicon Valley billionaire also promoted the use of masks.
“It’s really disappointing that we still don’t have adequate testing, that the credibility of our top scientists like yourself and the CDC are being undermined,” Zuckerberg told Fauci during the online interview.
The Facebook billionaire further bashed the Trump White House, saying that until recently, “parts of the administration were calling into question whether people should even follow basic best practices like wearing masks.”
Fauci didn’t directly criticize the Trump administration during the interview. But he suggested some states reopened their economies too early.
“We should be looking at public health measures as a vehicle, or a gateway, to opening the country, not as the obstacle in the way, but as the gateway,” Fauci said. “You have got to do it correctly. You can’t jump over steps, which is very perilous when you think about rebound. The proof of the pudding is, look what has happened. There really is no reason that we are having 40, 50, 60 thousand, other than we are not doing something correctly.”
Fauci also praised New York, saying “they’ve done very, very well right now.” New York has the second-highest death rate in the country and still hasn’t reopened its economy to the extent of other states like Florida and Texas.
Trump’s senior trade official Peter Navarro recently ripped Fauci in a USA Today op-ed in which he said Fauci “has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.” But President Donald Trump has taken a more conciliatory tone, recently saying: “I have a very good relationship with Anthony… we’re all on the same team.”
During the Zuckerberg interview, Fauci also pushed the use of masks, even though he advised Americans against them earlier this year. Fauci explained that he was concerned that a run on masks would limit supply for health care workers. He also said wearing a mask doesn’t adversely affect one’s health.
“There has not been any indication that putting a mask on, and wearing a mask for a considerable period of time, has any deleterious effects on oxygen exchange and things like that,” he said.
Zuckerberg is feeling the heat from the mainstream media who are pressuring him to become more aggressive in censoring President Trump and his allies ahead of the November election. The Facebook CEO has said that he doesn’t want the platform to become an arbiter of truth.
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