Coronavirus
Donald Trump threatens to fire Anthony Fauci
after US election
President plays up to chants of ‘Fire Fauci’ at
curfew-breaching Florida rally
Oliver
Laughland in Miami
@oliverlaughland
Mon 2 Nov
2020 06.48 GMTLast modified on Mon 2 Nov 2020 06.49 GMT
President
Donald Trump has threatened to fire Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious
disease expert, during a midnight rally in Florida 24 hours before the
presidential election.
As crowds
at the Miami Opa-Locka airport chanted “Fire Fauci”, Trump allowed the chants
to continue for several seconds before responding: “Don’t tell anybody, but let
me wait until a little bit after the election. I appreciate the advice. I
appreciate it.”
Fauci, one
of the world’s foremost infectious diseases experts, has served for over three
decades as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID). He is one of the lead experts on Trump’s coronavirus
taskforce and has frequently offered frank public health guidance in contrast
to the president’s repeated falsehoods on the severity of the Covid-19
pandemic.
Trump’s
rally in Florida, a critical swing state he needs to hold to win the election,
was held as Covid-19 cases in the state continued to surge. Like countless
Trump campaign rallies there was no social distancing and thousands of
attendees did not wear face masks.
Miami-Dade
county, where the event took place, has a midnight curfew to mitigate the
spread of the virus. The county ordinance states the curfew is “necessary to
safeguard life and health, as parties and gatherings late at night have the
potential to spread Covid-19”. Trump’s speech continued well past midnight and
attendees were still leaving the venue after 1am.
The rally
was Trump’s fifth event of the day, in a packed schedule that saw him visit five
separate states as the election reaches its final day of campaigning. Polls
showed Trump behind in Florida by an average of 2.2%, foreshadowing a close
race.
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