Fauci is extraordinarily resillient. Always thought he would either have to sell himself to Trump or be removed. Does anyone know why he still has his job?
I had a vague idea of who he was before all this. For almost 20 years, access to medical residency (specialization) allocations in Portugal were solely determined by your ability to memorize (literally) huge sections of this book, which was the sole official biography for the exam.
That's a four thousand pages small print condensation of cold hard medical science, still one of the most expensive books I own at circa €200. Fauci is one of the editors these days, so his name is recognizable for most doctors, and I was the type of nerd to sort through editorials and prefaces, hence actually knew what his job was far before the pandemic.
I was very curious about the first White House briefing on Covid and saw it live. When I noticed Fauci was among them I was enraged, as I assumed he was going to toe the line. And indeed, as soon as he opened his mouth it was confirmed, he seemed to be reinforcing Trump's idea that Covid was harmless and wouldn't hurt the USA.
However, his last intervention on that day was curious... When asked whether people should still go on cruises - Trump had just said people should change none of those plans - he went on a nervous and disorganized ramble of the sort "You can go on cruises, but I personally don't like cruises and I can't understand why would someone want to go on one" (words might not have been exactly these, but thereabouts).
I was a bit confused but the following days it became clear he was fully aware (and terrified) of the situation and just trying to gain time to do his job and avoid being replaced by some incompetent sycophant. I found that comendable but ultimately destined to fail. I am very suprised that not only he has kept his job, but has also been able to be more and more frontal in his criticism of Trump.
Anyone knows why is this? Does Trump lack the political authority to mess with his position? It makes no sense to me.
In a way I understand what
@Brwned meant above, this might be a sign of the strenght of intitutions as some sort of counter-power to Trump. Though I think for Western standards Trump has a level of leeway (and hence ability) to mess things far more than what 4 years of government and a minority win should provide. Most western european countries have far far more effective counter-powers in place.