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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMedical Expert Who Corrects Trump Is Now a Target of the Far Right
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/technology/coronavirus-fauci-trump-conspiracy-target.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=HomepageMedical Expert Who Corrects Trump Is Now a Target of the Far Right
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administrations most outspoken advocate of emergency virus measures, faces a torrent of false claims that he is mobilizing to undermine the president.
At a White House briefing on the coronavirus on March 20, President Trump called the State Department the Deep State Department. Behind him, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, dropped his head and rubbed his forehead.
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Some thought Dr. Fauci was slighting the president, leading to a vitriolic online reaction. On Twitter and Facebook, a post that falsely claimed he was part of a secret cabal who opposed Mr. Trump was soon shared thousands of times, reaching roughly 1.5 million people.
A week later, Dr. Fauci the administrations most outspoken advocate of emergency measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak has become the target of an online conspiracy theory that he is mobilizing to undermine the president.
That fanciful claim has spread across social media, fanned by a right-wing chorus of Mr. Trumps supporters, even as Dr. Fauci has won a public following for his willingness to contradict the president and correct falsehoods and overly rosy pronouncements about containing the virus.
An analysis by The New York Times found over 70 accounts on Twitter that have promoted the hashtag #FauciFraud, with some tweeting as frequently as 795 times a day. The anti-Fauci sentiment is being reinforced by posts from Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a conservative group; Bill Mitchell, host of the far-right online talk show YourVoice America; and other outspoken Trump supporters such as Shiva Ayyadurai, who has falsely claimed to be the inventor of email.
Many of the anti-Fauci posts, some of which pointed to a seven-year-old email that Dr. Fauci had sent praising Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of State, have been retweeted thousands of times. On YouTube, conspiracy-theory videos about Dr. Fauci have racked up hundreds of thousands of views in the past week. In private Facebook groups, posts disparaging him have also been shared hundreds of times and liked by thousands of people, according to the Times analysis.
One anti-Fauci tweet on Tuesday said, Sorry liberals but we dont trust Dr. Anthony Fauci.
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Medical Expert Who Corrects Trump Is Now a Target of the Far Right (Original Post)
Demovictory9
Mar 2020
OP
dalton99a
(81,065 posts)1. Putin's trolls have been active as well
green88
(19 posts)2. This is insane.
SWBTATTReg
(21,856 posts)3. Idiots. Fauci has been one of the most respected voices out there. If these people are so ...
concerned, then perhaps they should be on the front lines along w/ Dr. Fauci, who is probably facing some pretty daunting challenges, let alone these idiots and rump. Screw them and the high horse they rode in on.
malaise
(267,796 posts)5. Let them proceed
ReTHUGs will be wiped out come November - I want the Con in prison - there is neither peace nor tranquility
SWBTATTReg
(21,856 posts)6. I wholehearted agree w/ you.
stillcool
(32,626 posts)4. they can't bust up this country soon enough...
wish I knew the end game.