White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday that billionaire Elon Musk’s public criticism of top U.S. health official Anthony Fauci is “dangerous” and “disgusting” and should be called out.
Jean-Pierre said on Monday, “They are disgusting and have nothing to do with reality.” We will continue to point this out and be very clear about it. She gave Fauci high marks for how he handled public health crises, like the coronavirus pandemic.
Musk tweeted over the weekend, “My pronouns are “prosecute” and “fauci.” As the tweet went viral, the CEO of both Twitter and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc., which makes electric cars, replied to his own post by saying, “Truth resonates.”
Related: Musk has delivered the first Tesla truck, but there is no word on output or cost.
Fauci said he planned to retire in December as President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser and the top U.S. infectious disease official. He has dealt with tough questions about health crises like HIV/AIDS, avian flu, and Ebola.
The immunologist with over 50 years of experience has been a consultant to seven U.S. presidents, starting with the Republican Ronald Reagan.
But it was his handling of COVID and his blunt assessments from the White House podium that Americans needed to change their behaviour because of the pandemic that made him a hero to public health advocates while working for former President Donald Trump, a villain to some on the right, and an unusual celebrity among bureaucrats who are used to working in the shadows.
The United States has more than a million COVID-19 deaths that have been reported.
Fauci said that he had been threatened with death. He had to deal with criticism from Trump and other conservatives who didn’t like the safety measures he suggested, like vaccinations, social distance, and masking, to try to make the pandemic less deadly.
Related: Elon Musk thinks that human tests of Neuralink’s brain chip will start in 6 months.
The Republicans also said they would look into Fauci if they won the midterm elections and took control of Congress. They did win control of the House of Representatives, but the Democrats barely kept control of the Senate.
