Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro slammed for ridiculous op-ed attacking expert immunologist's credibility
15 July 2020
Millions of Americans, fearful of being infected with the deadly COVID-19, have been paying close attention to Dr. Anthony Fauci — who has been warning against reopening non-essential businesses prematurely and is stressing that the pandemic is far from over. Trumpistas have responded by offering “opposition research” in the hope of discrediting the expert immunologist. Some of the attacks on Fauci have come from Peter Navarro, who is one of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers and slams him in a ridiculous July 14 op-ed for USA Today — and many people have been rising to Fauci’s defense on Twitter.
Headlined, “Anthony Fauci Has Been Wrong About Everything I Have Interacted With Him On,” Navarro’s op-ed briefly tries to make an argument against Fauci’s credibility. Navarro, for example, argues that Fauci has been wrong about hydroxychloroquine’s efficacy against COVID-19, but in fact, many health experts have warned that the drug could be dangerous. And the Trump advisor also claims that Fauci has been “flip flopping on the use of masks.”
“When you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice,” Navarro writes, “my answer is: only with skepticism and caution.”
But if Navarro’s goal was to discredit Fauci, he did an incredibly poor job. USA Today conduced an online survey on the op-ed, and around 77% of readers responded that they “strongly disagree” with Navarro. Another 6% voted that they “disagree.”
Kyle Griffin, a producer for MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” tweeted, “The White House assault on Dr. Fauci continues” and cited Navarro’s op-ed as an example. Twitter users were quick to express their disdain for Navarro.
@Dennisclaude3 posted, “We. Stand. With. Dr. Fauci, and @russ_hjelm asserted, “To the best of my recollection, Navarro has been wrong about everything, period.”
Read some more tweets below: