'Just another lie': Donald Trump mocked as he claims Ron DeSantis was the biggest fan of Dr Anthony Fauci

DES MOINES, IOWA: During a Town Hall event hosted by Fox News on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, former president Donald Trump addressed a live audience in Des Moines, just days away from the all-important January 15 caucus in the Hawkeye state.

During his interactions, Trump accused Florida Governor Ron DeSantis of supporting Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading COVID expert and former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

Despite the Trump administration recognizing Fauci for his "exceptional efforts on Operation Warp Speed" in 2021, the former president claimed that Fauci was not a significant figure during his administration and that he only became more prominent under President Biden.

This is not the first time that Trump has expressed his views on Fauci's role in his administration as in September 2023, the 77-year-old GOP presidential frontrunner reiterated his position that Fauci was not a "big player" in his administration and that he was not allowed to fire the medical adviser.

Despite this, Fauci has continued to play a prominent role in the US government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing expert guidance and advice to policymakers and the public alike.

What did Trump say regarding Dr Anthony Fauci in town hall discussion?

According to Fox News, Trump used the nickname he previously gave the governor and told hosts, Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, “If you go back and look at the record, you will see that the biggest fan of Dr Fauci was Ron Desanctimonious. He was a big fan. Ron DeSantis was a big Dr Fauci fan and nobody wants to cover that."

Back in September last year, the former President revealed to Hugh Hewitt, host of a conservative radio show why he didn’t fire Fauci, the contentious leader of his COVID-19 response team, saying, "First of all, you’re not allowed.”

He explained, “First of all, he’s civil service, and you’re not allowed to fire him. But forget that because I don’t necessarily go by everything … but Dr. Fauci would tell me things, and I wouldn’t do them in many cases,” adding. “But also, he wasn’t a big player in my administration. Dr. Fauci became a big player in the administration of Biden. He’s a very big player in Biden’s administration."

When asked by moderator Bret Baier on Wednesday about allegations that he is a "big government Republican" who added $8 trillion to the national debt during his term in the White House, Trump defended his administration's expenditure during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump said, "I say very simply, we were starting to pay down debt. We were going to pay down a lot of debt when COVID came along. If I didn't inject this country with money, you would have had a depression, the likes of which you have never seen."

He continued, "You had to inject money. We gave businesses that were going bankrupt, temporarily bankrupt, but they needed money. We helped businesses. If I didn't do that, you would have had a depression in this country. That was a very good investment.”

The GOP presidential frontrunner instead blamed the Biden administration by saying, “And now what they should be doing instead of the kind of debt that they're building at record levels, they should be paying down their debt and they ought to go into the energy business instead of this green new scam business that they're in."

According to Newsweek, conservative commentator Dave Rubin remarked that former president Donald Trump thinks of his supporters as a "bunch of morons" after he alleged that Ron DeSantis was "the biggest fan of Dr Fauci" when questioned about his pandemic record.

In reaction to a video excerpt of Trump's Town Hall that was posted by his 2024 campaign team's official account on X, Rubin wrote on Thursday, "This is some seriously dishonest bull****. And the fact that this official Trump account shared it is basically straight up evil. And no, that's not me being mean to Trump, that's Trump telling his supporters he thinks they are a bunch of morons and can feed them anything."

"Trump has shown no regret over warp speed, he gave Fauci an award on the way out and he was pushing DeSantis to recluse Florida right before leaving office," Rubin continued, before adding. "And yes, he would do it all over again since he thinks he did nothing wrong the first time."

Operation Warp Speed was an initiative launched during the Trump administration to expedite the development and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.

Former president Trump has previously claimed credit for the nation's vaccine rollout.

In addition, he awarded Dr Fauci and 51 others who served on Operation Warp Speed a presidential commendation on January 19, 2021, his last full day in office.

Internet mocks Donald Trump for saying Ron DeSantis was a 'big fan' of Dr Anthony Fauci

People on X slammed former president Donald Trump for spouting baseless allegations in his bid to deflect from his involvement with Dr Anthony Fauci during the coronavirus pandemic.

One X user remarked: "Just another lie… Surprised?"

Another user said, "No. Wrong. They never care about facts or their previous opinions."

Another user asked, "Is Trump actually trying to gaslight Ron DeSantis on the Fauci front? Unbelievable…"

One user quipped: "The CULT wonders not! Only what their god tells them matters!"

Another X user stated, "We are in a bizzaro timeline where it’s easy to pull the receipts on who said what, yet people out here trying to rewrite history as if the receipts aren’t easily pulled. What are we even doing any more?!"

One person tweeted, "The deplorable trolls vilifying Dr. Fauci because he told them what they didn't want to hear is so typical of these Republicans."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.