White House Issues Clarification on “Time to Fire Fauci” Retweet, Says He’s Not Fired

The media has been trying to portray a strained relationship between President Trump and Dr. Fauci.

But at the daily press briefings, the president has humbly and graciously given Dr. Fauci the stage to speak with medical authority on the novel coronavirus.

Rather than giving generic answers, Trump has no problem turning the podium over to an expert who knows the granular details of the pandemic.

This hasn't stopped the media from attempting to create the illusion of friction between President Trump and one of his top medical advisors.

The New York Daily News has more on the White House's clarification of Trump's retweet:

 A White House official claimed Monday that it’s “ridiculous” to suggest President Trump may be about to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci — even though the commander-in-chief had just hours earlier retweeted a message calling for the coronavirus adviser’s axing.

Hogan Gidley, a top deputy to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, said in an eyebrow-raising statement that Trump’s Sunday night retweet was “clearly” not about firing Fauci.

Rather, Gidley said Trump’s repost pushed back against “media attempts” to downplay the significance of his January decision to close down U.S. borders to travelers from China in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“This media chatter is ridiculous — President Trump is not firing Dr. Fauci,” Gidley said. “Dr. Fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to President Trump.”

Despite Gidley’s misleading missive, chatter about Fauci’s potential firing began after Trump retweeted a post from a failed Republican congressional candidate that explicitly stated it’s “Time to #FireFauci."

The anti-Fauci tweet claimed the doctor should be removed because he had told an interviewer that fewer Americans would have died if the president had listened to medical experts earlier about the pandemic outbreak.

Along with the retweet, Trump commented, “Sorry Fake News, it’s all on tape. I banned China long before people spoke up.”

Again, context matters.

Perhaps the media should have focused on Trump's added commentary, rather than turning the conspiracy theory mills into overdrive over a hashtag.

Conservative commentator Sean Hannity has long-called liberal news networks such as MSNBC "tin foil" conspiracy hat networks.

Perhaps this is why!

Even after the White House's official statement, news organizations couldn't help but feed into the "strained relationship" narrative.

CNN's Anderson Cooper even called the White House's response "cheap."

Could this be why the American people have such lower regard for the mainstream media?

Rather than simply reporting the facts and the context and content of Trump's added commentary to his retweet, the media has chosen to criticize the White House's clarification.

According to the Washington Examiner, Cooper was extremely critical of the statement:

CNN's Anderson Cooper chided the White House moments after a spokesman accused the media of fueling speculation that President Trump might fire Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The White House issued a statement Monday afternoon rejecting speculation that Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, might be on his way out after Trump retweeted a message calling for him to be fired, which also took swipes at the media and Democrats.

Cooper, who was hosting CNN Right Now as a fill-in for Brianna Keilar, responded to the statement on-air, calling it "so cheap."

"It's the president who retweeted this person’s tweet, you know ... with fire Fauci," Cooper said. "The idea — you know, the president of the United States is the most important person, you know, on the national stage, and if he’s retweeting some person who's tweeting about fire Fauci, you would think it has some meanings. The idea that Hogan Gidley is saying this is all just reporters, you know, elevating this. I mean, it's just ridiculous. It's unfortunate they use this. They could have put out a statement saying Dr. Fauci is a valued member."

"I don’t know why it bothers me. It's what we should expect from this White House," he added.

Instead of trying to undermine the president and his advisors during the COVID-19 pandemic, the media should focus on reporting the facts, not on speculation based on random hashtags.

While the health of Americans is certainly important, it is not the only consideration duyring the pandemic.

The president must also consider the economic health and vitality of the nation.

Note to the media: This is a time for unity, not division, from our leaders.