‘Like a punch to the chest’: Fauci reveals the Trump Covid tweets that truly shocked him

Trump’s apparent support of anti-lockdown protests “hit me like a punch to the chest”, Anthony Fauci has said.

Speaking to CNN on Sunday, the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert said Trump’s tweets in support of the protests – which occured in states imposed by Democratic governors – “shocked” him.

He said: “The thing that hit me like a punch to the chest was then, all of a sudden, he got up and said ‘Liberate Virginia, Liberate Michigan.

“And I said to myself, ‘Oh my goodness. What is going on here?’”

Trump had tweeted: “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!”” “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” “LIBERATE VIRGINIA,”in various messages throughout April 2020.

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This was despite him being in part responsible (obviously) for the restrictions imposed on the US.

Fauci added: “It shocked me because it was such a jolt to what we were trying to do.”

Following Trump’s tweets in April 2020, armed protestors invaded the Michigan Capitol. In a separate protest, more than 3,000 people took to the streets wearing MAGA hats and brandishing Trump flags.

Governors in the states Trump mentioned had been critical of the federal government’s response to the crisis and were cautious to lift restrictions gradually.

Fauci’s comments come after Trump made a jibe of his own to his former advisor last week, claiming he ignored his recommendations.

In January this year, Trump was permanently banned from Twitter after the social media company said his tweets risked inciting violence.

Fauci, on the other hand, is soon to be immortalised in a children’s book, to be released in June.

We know which man we’d rather be.