Diary entries made public by a Republican senator seeking to undermine Anthony Fauci instead reveal something else as well: the former senior US government science adviser’s deepening frustration with Donald Trump during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the notes, Fauci describes the president as “rambling”, “crazy”, “desperate”, “bumbling”, “incompetent”, “an idiot”, “a true embarrassment”, “totally nuts” and “truly an obnoxious adolescent”.
Fauci’s journal shows that from the earliest days of the crisis six years ago, he was already recording difficult encounters with a president preoccupied with publicity. On 27 February 2020, as public concern over the virus was beginning to build, Fauci wrote about an unexpected late-night phone call in which Trump “wanted to chat about the coronavirus situation in general”.
For “about 20-25 minutes”, Fauci wrote, he “encouraged [Trump] not to underplay the seriousness of the situation since if it turns out bad, it would look like he is covering up. I even spoke to him from a political standpoint that his chances for re-election might be more damaged if he downplayed the potential spread of virus in the USA than if he said we may face serious problems and even if the Stock Market goes down further, he was at least honest and the country would respect him for it.
“I thought that he heard what I said, but the next day, he again underplayed it.”
By 14 March, as the first Covid shutdowns were taking hold, Fauci was lamenting Trump’s obsession with “the fluff of ratings and publicity. And so he wants us to do 2 press conferences/day – one in AM and one in PM … We now will have no time to do work.”
‘A true embarrassment’
On 22 May, Fauci wrote that Trump was “getting out of control in pushing to open up the country and get the economy back before election day. He is desparate [sic]. This is all about re-election.”
Fauci’s assessment was borne out later that year. In October 2020, he wrote: “As the [presidential] election nears, the cases increase and surges are inevitable as we enter cooler weather. Trump is on the campaign trail spewing nonsense. He is really out of control. A true embarrassment.”
By March 2021, after watching Trump try to remain in power despite losing the election in a manner that Fauci said reminded him “historically of Hitler”, Fauci wrote: “He is truly an obnoxious adolescent.”
Fauci’s diary entries read as raw source material for reporting on the pandemic and its politics. He admitted to being a source himself, and worried about being suspected as a leaker, but wrote in late May 2020: “Had long conversation on ‘background’ with [Washington Post reporter] Bob Woodward who is writing a book on the early response to Covid in the USA. I provided him with some history of our response in early January and into February. Will tlak [sic] more with him tomorow [sic].”
The release of Fauci’s diaries was orchestrated by Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky, who has long voiced skepticism about the Covid-19 response Fauci led, accusing him of needlessly shutting down the country while covering the supposed truth that the virus was human-made, and that US-funded research contributed to its creation. Fauci has consistently said the virus originated in animal-to-human transmission, the generally accepted theory.
The two men have clashed before. At a hearing in January 2022, for example, Fauci told Paul his attacks put him in danger, “kindl[ing] the crazies out there and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me”. Fauci also charged: “You are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain.”
Paul and Fauci will square off again on Wednesday, at a hearing for which Fauci, 85, was compelled to appear. Paul has said he will “make sure Fauci answers for his dangerous decisions and the consequences they had for millions”.
In the rightwing press, coverage of the Fauci diaries has focused on his notes about his rise to global fame amid the Covid response, particularly about meeting celebrities or appearing on TV and in the press. The singer Joan Baez and actors Julia Roberts and Sean Penn are among names prominently noted.
Fauci does seem to have been proud of his newfound celebrity. On 13 July 2020, his relationship with Trump rapidly souring, he turned to his diary.
“Major, Major show of support for me for multiple and varied sectors,” he writes. “Most peo[p]le expressing outrage that the trump administration woud [sic] be so bumbling and incompetent to try to discredit the most credible scientist in the world.”
