_Fauci Said Going to ‘Malls, Movie Theaters, Gym’ Okay on Feb 29

As late as February 29, Dr. Anthony Fauci was telling America it was safe to go to the mall, the movies, and the gym.

During a Saturday, February 29 appearance on the NBC’s far-left Today Show, Fauci was asked point blank if Americans should stop enjoying their daily routines. Fauci answered point blank, “No.”

TODAY SHOW: So Dr. Fauci, it’s Saturday morning in America, people are waking up right now with real concerns about this; they want to go to malls, and movies, maybe the gym, as well. Should we be changing our habits, and if so, how?

FAUCI: No. Right now at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis. Right now the risk is still low, but this could change. I’ve said that many times, even on this program. You got watch out, because although the risk is low now, you don’t need to change anything you’re doing. When you start to see community spread, this could change, and force you to become much more attentive to doing things that would protect you from, spread.

CNNLOL: The New York Times reported yesterday that you and other top officials wanted to recommend social and physical distancing guidelines to President Trump as far back as the third week of February, but the administration didn’t announce such guidelines to the American public until March 16th, almost a month later. Why?

FAUCI: As I’ve said many times, we look at it from a pure health standpoint. We make a recommendation. Often the recommendation is taken. Sometimes it’s not. But it is what it is. We are where we are right now.

Let's recall Mr Martell's post:

It’s time for both sides to stop trying to ‘word-trap’ somebody for things they said at the very beginning of this pandemic. Most of us knew nothing about this disease two months ago, so of course, our responses may have changed since then.

You replied:

It’s not a word trap. It’s a matter of the advice he was giving on Feb 29.

magnum44 posted a great gif...

And then I posted that on Feb 29, in response to this CDC comment..."It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness," she said...." that Trump said "I don't think it's inevitable...It possibly will. It could be at a very small level or it could be at a larger level. Whatever happens, we're totally prepared."

Now, we can bicker and argue about the qualifiers, but the bottom line is that on Feb 29, Trump didn't think the current hell under which we're all living was inevitable. These words of Trump's - and other words of his - are not all that great with 20-20 vision.

Now, Trump did lots of good things along the way - the travel ban, for example - so he wasn't totally out of the loop. And he never said 'I found out about this by watching TV." I'm not going to hold Trump nor Fauci or any other person to words/utterances from a month or so ago. There are lots of people who thought this was worth monitoring and precautions should be taken but who didn't fathom we'd be where we are now. And that's ok - nobody's clairvoyant. What's pretty important, to me, is how they're handling life now. Remember what Patton (allegedly) said: “I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”

I still think Trump is a great President, I'd rather have him vs Hillary and a zillion other people at the CEO of the Executive Branch. But to bash Fauci (who I don't trust at all, btw) for this or that utterance 45 days or so ago but to give Trump a pass for similar utterances is akin to what the Obamabots did from 2009-2016.

I got in an online discussion with a Trump hating leftist the other day, and he went to the 15 people quote. It’s a common quote being used against Trump. So, for the 2nd time, I reread the transcript of that presser. It’s preserved on Conservative Treehouse.

It was lengthy and in it the president indicated numerous times that he suspected there was a wider infection in the USA than just in WA state.

So, this is not some fancy on my part designed to hate on Fauci. I have followed for a while now the left’s strategy of “Trump was late to the party”. It’s simply untenable.

Fauci, if he isn’t a political operative, is playing right into it. My take on him is that he tries to please anyone he talks to. That was clear in the Waters interview aired Saturday night. Fauci was “frustrated” that China and the WHO kept everybody in the dark until near the end of January.

So, my concern is again — as with Biden — some kind of age related issue. Beyond that, his penchant to ingratiate himself to any interviewer. Finally, a concern that he is a covert political operative.

My own sense is that he’s just about at the end of his fame, in any case. The new “open up the economy” task force will have different people on it. I assume different medical experts, since Fauci is occupied with the Corona Task Force.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.