Nicolai Haugsted
Fauci’s personal journals reveal extraordinary behind-the-scenes criticism of Trump.
Private journal entries written by former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci are shedding new light on his relationship with Donald Trump during the Covid-19 pandemic, exposing growing frustration with the president’s leadership behind closed doors.
According to The Guardian, the journals were released by Republican Senator Rand Paul ahead of another congressional hearing involving Fauci. Besides documenting key moments from the pandemic, the entries portray Trump’s conduct in increasingly negative terms as the health crisis deepened.
Trump repeatedly ignored Fauci’s warnings
Fauci began keeping detailed notes shortly after Covid-19 emerged in the United States. According to the journals, he spent nearly half an hour on the phone with Trump in late February 2020, urging the president not to play down the threat and warning that honesty would ultimately benefit both the country and Trump’s political future.
Despite believing his message had been understood, Fauci later concluded that the conversation had little effect.
“I thought he heard what I was saying, but the very next day he downplayed its importance again.”
Journal entries also describe Fauci’s growing irritation over what he viewed as Trump’s fixation on television appearances and public image while the administration was trying to respond to an escalating health emergency.
Journals paint increasingly bleak picture
As the months passed, Fauci’s private assessments became markedly harsher. He wrote that Trump appeared consumed by his re-election campaign and the desire to restart the economy, even as coronavirus infections continued to rise.
“As the presidential election approaches, cases continue to rise, and waves of infections are inevitable with the arrival of colder weather. Trump is out on the campaign trail spouting nonsense. He is truly out of control. A true disgrace. He is truly an unbearable teenager.”
Later entries reportedly describe the president as confused, desperate, incompetent, unstable and increasingly detached from reality. Following the 2020 election, Fauci also compared Trump’s refusal to accept defeat to authoritarian behavior and privately portrayed him as immature.
By October 2020, his frustration had reached a new level.
“As the presidential election approaches, cases continue to rise, and waves of infections are inevitable with the arrival of colder weather. Trump is out on the campaign trail spouting nonsense. He is truly out of control. A true disgrace.”
Long-running feud with Rand Paul
Publication of the journals was orchestrated by Senator Rand Paul, who has spent years criticizing Fauci’s handling of the pandemic and questioning his statements about Covid-19’s origins.
Fauci has consistently rejected accusations that he misled the public and has maintained that the virus most likely spread naturally from animals to humans.
Relations between the two men have been openly hostile for years. During a Senate hearing in 2022, Fauci accused Paul of helping fuel threats against him and his family.
“You are encouraging the crazies out there, and I receive threats against my life, harassment of my family and my children through obscene phone calls because people are lying about me.”
Paul and Fauci are expected to face each other once again during a congressional hearing, where the Kentucky senator has pledged to hold the former health official accountable for decisions made during the pandemic.
