Anthony Fauci, a prominent member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is set to formally meet with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team on Thursday afternoon.
Fauci has already spoken to some members of Biden’s incoming administration, including future chief of staff Ron Klain. In an interview on MSNBC earlier on Thursday, Fauci said he hasn’t spoken directly with Biden since his presidential win, but that he was looking forward to a virtual meeting with the team of health experts he has assembled to help Biden transition into the White House.
“I’m going to be meeting virtually, talking about just substantive, uncomplicated transition issues like vaccines and the state of the epidemic and things like that,” Fauci said.
Fauci also said he expects to continue on as director of NIAID, a position he’s held since 1984. As far as what else he could do for the Biden administration, Fauci said that’d be up to the president-elect — although he did have an idea of what Biden has in store for him.
“What contribution I will make in the new administration depends on the new administration,” Fauci explained. “But I cannot imagine I’m not going to be involved in the COVID-19 response. I mean that would, I think, be unheard of if that’s the case. But we’ll see.”
Fauci’s addition to Biden’s team of experts would likely be received well by most Americans. The infectious disease expert is widely regarded as a trustworthy source on matters related to COVID-19, with a recent Politico/Morning Consult poll showing that 62 percent of Americans feel he’s done an “excellent” or “good” job during the pandemic so far.
Another 17 percent in that poll said Fauci has done a “fair” job, while only 13 percent described his work as “poor.”
In an interview on C-SPAN last week, Fauci was asked whether he’d consider taking on a role in the Biden administration similar to the one he’s had under President Donald Trump. “Of course, yes,” Fauci said in the interview. “The answer is absolutely.”
A transition to a new administration would likely make a big difference for Fauci. Biden takes a significantly more science-based approach to coronavirus than Trump does, such as wearing a mask in almost all of his public appearances. His campaign for president was also conducted with virtual and socially distant-friendly events, while Trump tended to hold large, packed campaign rallies that appeared indifferent to the pandemic.
Fauci would likely find his opinion more respected under Biden, too. For much of the COVID-19 crisis, Trump tended to disregard Fauci’s opinions, and at times expressed hostile opinions about the NIAID director. During a conference call in October, for example, Trump called Fauci and others who expressed worry about the administration’s approach to coronavirus “idiots,” though he acknowledged that if he tried to fire Fauci during the campaign it would have set off a metaphorical “bomb.”
Fauci’s meeting with Biden’s transition team comes at a perilous time during the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, it was reported that deaths related to COVID-19 reached 3,157 in a single day, a record high that surpassed the previous one by more than 500 deaths.
More than 13.9 million Americans have received positive coronavirus diagnoses since the pandemic began, with more than 273,000 deaths.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy